Going for Growth 2015: Key findings for Austria

AAustria experienced a renewed downturn in its economy and labour market between mid-2011 and late-2014, with increasing rates of unemployment largely due to slack domestic demand. But there are recent signs of a slow recovery: overall and youth unemployment rates and the incidence of long-term unemployment all started to fall in the first quarter of 2015, if only marginally, and employment continued to increase.

The Austrian health system generally provides good access to care, but the quality of care might be improved in the area of cancer care and in reducing hospital admission rates for chronic conditions by strengthening primary care.

Das österreichische Gesundheitssystem gewährleistet einen niederschwelligen Zugang zur Gesundheitsversorgung, es gibt jedoch Verbesserungspotenzial bei der Qualität der Krebsversorgung sowie der Reduktion von Spitalsaufnahmen durch die Stärkung der medizinischen Primärversorgung.

Austria has taken important steps to improve its school system, but needs to reform its complex school governance to further improve quality and equity, according to a new OECD report.

This country note provides an environmental tax and carbon pricing profile for Austria. It shows environmentally related tax revenues, taxes on energy use and effective carbon rates.

This country note presents student performance in science, reading and mathematics, and measures equity in education in Austria. The interactive charts allow you to compare results with other countries participating in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Life expectancy in Austria is close to the OECD average, but Austrian’s smoke and drink more than people in other countries. While access to health care is good, quality of care indicators show more mixed results. Austria spends more on health than the OECD average.

This note presents marginal effective tax rates (METRs) that summarise the tax system’s impact on the incentives to make an additional investment in a particular type of savings. By comparing METRs on different types of household savings, we can gain insights into which assets or savings types receive the most favourable treatment from the tax system.

This country note for Austria provides detail on the proportion of CO2 emissions from energy use subject to different effective carbon rates (ECR), as well as on the level and components of average ECRs in each of the six economic sectors (road transport, off-road transport, industry, agriculture and fishing, residential & commercial, and electricity).

The digital revolution, globalisation and demographic changes are transforming labour markets at a time when policy makers are also struggling with slow productivity and wage growth and high levels of income inequality. The new OECD Jobs Strategy provides a comprehensive framework and policy recommendations to help countries address these challenges.

The Austrian standard VAT rate is 20.0%, which is above the OECD average. The average VAT/GST¹ standard rate in the OECD was 19.3% as of 1 January 2019. The previous standard VAT rate in Austria was 18% in 1983. It changed to the current level in 1984. Austria applies reduced VAT rates of 10% and 13% to a number of goods and services as well as one specific regional rates.

This country note explains how Austria taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

Austria stands out for its high levels of economic and social well-being. Preserving these will require reforms to improve competition in the service sector, increase access to risk capital for firms of all sizes, encourage more women and migrants into the workforce and lengthen work lives to reflect the ageing population, according to a new OECD report.

The tax-to-GDP ratio in Austria increased by 0.4 percentage points from 41.8% in 2017 to 42.2% in 2018. The corresponding figure for the OECD average was a slight increase of 0.1 percentage point from 34.2% to 34.3% over the same period.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Austria increased by 0.3 percentage points from 47.6 in 2018 to 47.9 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Austria had the 4th highest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, occupying the same position in 2018.

Gross Fixed Capital Formation in Morocco increased to 314963 MAD Million in 2018 from 302226 MAD Million in 2017. Gross Fixed Capital Formation in Morocco averaged 75401.06 MAD Million from 1952 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 314963 MAD Million in 2018 and a record low of 690 MAD Million in 1957. This page provides - Morocco Gross Fixed Capital Formation - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

The OECD/INFE High level Principles on National Strategies for Financial Education provide international guidance to policy makers with a view to developing evidence-based, co-ordinated and tailored approaches to financial education, both in emerging markets and more advanced economies. G20 Leaders recognised the important role of financial education policies when they endorsed these Principles in 2012.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría opens the Global Forum on Better Governance for Inclusive Growth held in Paris. The Forum will focus on public sector reforms worldwide and identify lessons learned, good practices and innovative solutions for advancing the governance reforms necessary to foster inclusive growth.

This report concludes that actual application of bail-ins, involving bondholders in loss sharing, could effectively reign in perceptions of implicit guarantees for bank debt. However, bail-ins are rare owing to concerns about contagion risks and depositor and investor protection, so implicit guarantees persist.

The implications of the European sovereign debt crisis for Asia, the globalisation of the funding of investments and the contribution of long-term institutional investors to growth were amongst the topics explored at the 2013 Tokyo Roundtable.

The crisis has shown that there is no such thing as an optimal banking structure or model. The Liikanen report highlighted excessive risk taking and excessive reliance on short-term funding not matched with adequate capital protection. The French reform of the banking sector builds on this insight as well as the agreement reached by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the European CRD 4 to foster financial stability.

The financial crisis has shown that many people need to have a better understanding of the financial issues in order to make informed decisions on matters such as savings, investments, pensions and credit, according to a report to be presented to G20 leaders in Saint Petersburg this week.

The 2013 Global Forum focused on a number of critical policy, regulatory and supervisory issues affecting private and public pension provision in the Asia region.

This paper investigates whether countries that had controls on inflows in place prior to the crisis were less vulnerable during the global financial crisis. More generally, it examines economic growth effects of such controls over the entire economic cycle, finding that capital restrictions on inflows (particularly debt liabilities) may be useful in good times but may have adverse effects in a crisis.

The 2013 Forum was held on 5-6 December and discussed how governments can improve their investment policy framework to reduce the risk and attract long-term private finance in support of green growth.

Discussions at this event focused on enhancing transparency in public debt management, the impact of tapering and exit on public debt management, and the role of DMOs in centralised or integrated risk management.

Discussions at the 14th roundtable focussed on quantitative easing (QE) tapering to Asia, financial regulatory reforms, financial liberalisation and fragmenting growth, long-term investment for infrastructure, financial inclusion and disaster risk financing in insurance and financial markets.

The value of implicit guarantees has declined from its peak at the height of the financial crisis, which is consistent with progress made regarding the bank regulatory reform agenda, as one would expect that many of the reform measures imply a more limited value of implicit guarantees for bank debt. Implicit guarantees persist however and their value continues to be significant.

This book addresses the challenges linked to the introduction of financial education in schools and and provides practical guidance and case studies to assist policy makers.

This report describes the key findings from responses by 35 countries to a survey on implicit guarantees. Policy makers have announced their intention to rein in the values of implicit guarantees so it is important to measure their value to help facilitate the task of assessing progress in reducing their value.

As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approach their expiry date, we must focus our efforts on ensuring a brighter, more inclusive and sustainable future for all. We face a plethora of common issues: growing inequalities; changing consumption patterns and population dynamics; increasing natural resource scarcity; and ongoing illicit financial flows.

2-3 October 2014, Swakopmund, Namibia: This event focused on the pension reform process in Africa, tax and the financial incentives that affect savings in complementary private pensions, and the role of pension funds in long-term investment financing and capital market development.

This article summarises discussions from an OECD Financial Roundtable on reducing bank dependence in financing small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and non-bank debt financing alternatives.

This paper analyses the effects of government policies on flows of private finance for investment in renewable energy. It also examines whether direct provision of public finance for a project increases the volume of private finance raised. The analysis covers 87 countries, six renewable energy sectors (wind, solar, biomass, small hydropower, marine and geothermal).

Closing remarks made by the OECD Secretary-General during the Paris Club Forum, organised jointly by the Australian Presidency and the Paris Club.

The global economy continues to run at low speed and many countries, particularly in Europe, seem unable to overcome the legacies of the crisis. With high unemployment, high inequality and low trust still weighing heavily, it is imperative to swiftly implement reforms that boost demand and employment and raise potential growth.

This report develops a framework that classifies investments according to different types of financing instruments and investment funds, and highlights the risk mitigants and transaction enablers that intermediaries can use to mobilise institutionally held capital.

This roundtable offers a forum for regulators, policy-makers, experts, practitioners, scholars and international organisations to discuss issues relating to capital market reform in Asia.

Money remitted by international migrants is a major source of income for many countries. Yet individual migrants and their families are often amongst the most vulnerable people in society, and many face significant barriers to the access and use of appropriate financial products. This paper looks at key challenges and how governments can take measures to support migrant workers and their families and improve their financial literacy.

The world economy desperately needs more productive investment: to create jobs, to increase productivity and to meet critical global goals like combating climate change. But instead of more productive investment, we are getting rising stock markets. Sadly too many policymakers and journalists don’t know the difference.

The OECD’s Annual Meeting at Ministerial Level reinforced member governments’ support across a broad range of key OECD work.

Responsible business conduct (RBC) is an essential part of an open international investment climate. The activities of multinational enterprises often span multiple countries and many cultural, legal, and regulatory environments.

In 2009, Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo published her book, “Dead Aid”, which shocked much of the international development community by claiming that ‘traditional’ systems of official development assistance (ODA) to Africa were not delivering, and arguing why we must find alternatives. This article looks at where we are at today.

Addis Ababa - Part of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development, this event explored strategies to leverage Africa’s pension funds and other sources of private financing to develop Africa’s infrastructure. Ways to improve the investment climate in Africa using the recently updated Policy Framework for Investment were also be addressed.

Long-term savings and investments (LTSI) by individuals enhances their financial security while also supporting growth and financial development. Evidence shows that financial knowledge and skills are positively related to LTSI behaviour, and indicates a strong correlation between levels of financial literacy and retirement wealth accumulation.

The OECD presented today the final package of measures for a comprehensive, coherent and co-ordinated reform of the international tax rules to be discussed by G20 Finance Ministers at their meeting on 8 October, in Lima, Peru.

Taking place in Berlin on 29-30 October, the 2015 Global Forum will explore current trends in global private pension systems and the ways in which pension regulatory and supervisory authorities are managing and reacting to the evolution of these systems.

This document outlines the objectives and key components of the framework, and presents the flexible, outcome-based, core competencies framework itself. The framework is designed to be applicable to youth aged 15 to 18, describing the basic level of financial literacy that is likely to be needed by this group to fully and safely participate in economic and financial life.

Financial literacy has become a key life skill for individuals as well as micro and small businesses. Today, 59 economies worldwide are implementing national strategies using guidance from the OECD/INFE High-level Principles on National Strategies for Financial Education. The Policy Handbook describes the experiences of these economies and addresses challenges that countries have faced in implementing the Principles.