Capital Markets
Heads: Engelbert Dockner (passed away April 2017), Neal Stoughton
Research Profile
Research goals of this institute include the development of strategies and the investigation of methods and instruments to guarantee the long-term success of university endowments.
Selected Projects
- Identifying risk factors of emerging market bond funds
- Strategy allocation
- Carry and FX prognoses
- Value and momentum strategies
- A natural experiment in portfolio management
- Implementation strategies for university endowments
CEE Legal Studies
Head: Martin Winner
Research Profile
The institute’s activities in 2016 focused on research and teaching in the field of Central and Eastern European business law.
Selected Projects
- Physical securities and insolvency in CEE – Legal status of creditors
- Collateral securities and insolvency in selected CEE countries in light of the European capital markets union
- Restructuring of companies and EU law
- The functions of land registry records in European comparison
- Austrian law schools in Bratislava and Sofia
Computational Methods
Head: Kurt Hornik
Research Profile
The goals of this institute include developing and implementing modern computational methods for application in the fields of finance, information systems, marketing, and sustainability.
- Natural language processing (NLP)
- Analysis of behavioral patterns and information diffusion processes
- Ontology extension and evolution
- Combination of human computation with machine learning and NLP algorithms
- Searching, navigating, and visualizing contextualized content repositories
Selected Projects
- DecarboNet – A decarbonisation platform for citizen empowerment and translating collective awareness into behavioral change
- uComp – Embedded human computation for knowledge extraction and evaluation
- Transparency and liquidity in the structured product market
- Sovereign debt issuance under fiscal budget uncertainty and market frictions
- Optimizing emissions strategies for government bonds
Co-Operation and Co-Operatives
Head: Dietmar Rößl
Research Profile
Management challenges and steering mechanisms in co-operative relationships are the main focus of this institute’s work.
Selected Projects
- Image and attitude study on housing co-operatives
- Senior co-operatives as innovation (funded by OeNB)
- Perception of member promotion – Replication of a 2008 study
- Measuring co-operativeness – A comparison between Switzerland and Austria
- Applying the theory of reciprocity to explain co-operative behavior
Economics of Aging
Head: Ulrike Schneider
Research Profile
This research institute investigates the socioeconomic aspects of an aging society. In 2016, researchers’ work focused on analyzing the situation of family caregivers, evaluating care-related policies, and measuring the results of long-term care.
Selected Projects
- EXCELC – Exploring Comparative Effectiveness and Efficiency in Long-term Care
- Using the ASCOT assessment technique to determine quality of life in clients of Caritas Vienna and Lower Austria
- ZentrAAL-OUTCOMES – The effects of new support technology
- CiM-Outcomes – Effectiveness of technical support
- Exercise programs and networks for the elderly
Economics of Inequality
Heads: Wilfried Altzinger, Sigrid Stagl, Karin Heitzmann
Research Profile
Together with a small team of young, highly qualified researchers, professors from the departments of Economics and Socioeconomics investigate a wide variety of questions dealing with economic, ecological, and social inequality.
Selected Projects
- The middle class in Austria and Europe
- Environmental awareness in Austria
- Inequality in different professions in the EU
- Social deprivation and internal migration in Austria
- Socioeconomic characteristics of top-earning European households
European Affairs
Head: Gabriele Tondl
Research Profile
In addition to investigating internal European integration issues (single market, monetary union, EU institutions), the institute also deals with economic and legal aspects of EU foreign relations.
Family Business
Head: Hermann Frank
Research Profile
The research institute is an internationally recognized center for family business-related research. Key research areas include family governance, familiness, socioemotional wealth, innovation, business families, and agricultural family businesses.
Selected Projects
- Family governance
- Innovation family businesses in Lower Austria: Good practice studies
- Business families
- Agricultural family businesses
Health Care Management and Economics
Heads: Johannes Steyrer, August Österle
Research Profile
This research institute deals with health care organizations as social organizations. The key research area health care economics focuses on the economic and sociopolitical analysis of national and international health care systems and health care reforms, and the relationships between system levels and acting participants.
Project
- Risk factors in intrahospital transport in intensive care: A multicenter multinational study on determinants of patient safety in intrahospital transport in intensive care with an emphasis on organizational, team, and equipment-related factors
Human Capital and Development
Head: Wolfgang Lutz
Research Profile
The main goal of the institute is to understand the role of human capital relative to population numbers, and how it changes according to age, gender, place of residence, educational level, health status, cognitive abilities, and participation in the creation of human wellbeing.
Project
- Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital
International Taxation
Heads: Eva Eberhartinger, Michael Lang, Martin Zagler
Research Profile
Multidisciplinary research on the taxation of cross-border transactions with a particular focus on corporate taxation are the main research topics covered by this institute.
Selected Projects
- Contemporary application of the arm’s length principle in transfer pricing
- Understanding taxpayer behavior: A survey of the dynamics between personal and institutional characteristics
- A postmodern approach to international business taxation
Liberal Professions
Heads: Leo W. Chini, Matthias Fink
Research Profile
The institute’s main goal is to provide impulses for research into liberal professions, obtain well-founded research results, and increase public awareness for these professions through making expert contributions.
Selected Projects
- EU evaluation report on the effects of legal regulation of professions
- Creating and maintaining a database on liberal professions
- Heterodox approaches to regulating professions
- Structural model for measuring the effects of regulation
- The peer-to-peer economy as a strategic option
Regulatory Economics
Heads: Stefan Bogner, Klaus Gugler
Research Profile
The institute’s research focuses mainly on the economic analysis of regulated markets, optimizing regulatory measures, and investigating the economic effects of regulatory actions. Key areas include incentive regulation and energy markets.
Selected Projects
- Renewable energy intermittency and its impact on thermal generation
- Installation entries and exits in the EU ETS industrial sector
- Coexistence of RES and pump storage power plants: Evidence from European electricity markets
- The effect of trade on the variance of price: Evidence from the French electricity market
Spatial and Real Estate Economics
Head: Gunther Maier
Research Profile
Institute researchers investigate and analyze real estate-related developments in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe.
Selected Projects
- Transnational cooperation for the improvement of buildings energy performance and efficiency (TRACE)
- Location quality in Austria
- Real estate agent index
Supply Chain Management
Head: Tina Wakolbinger
Research Profile
The main goal of this research institute is to discover and develop integration potential in multi-location, intra-company supply chains as well as in supply, production, and distribution networks between the various stakeholders.
Selected Projects
- Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe: Consolidation and coordination in urban areas
- Outsourcing humanitarian logistics activities to commercial logistics providers: Optimal pricing policies and contract design
- VLSP – Virtual Logistics Service Provider
- Use of cargo bikes for inner city deliveries – a comparison of cities and best practice recommendations for the City of Vienna
Urban Management and Governance
Heads: Verena Madner, Renate Meyer
Research Profile
Interdisciplinary research into the economic, legal, and organizational aspects of modern city management and governance describes the work of this institute.
Selected Projects
- Public governance und public auditing: The effectiveness of public audits from the perspective of audited organizations
- Collaborative governance in the refugee crisis
- PERCEIVE: Regional identities and European cohesion
- Innovative financing models for sustainable urban energy systems – INFINITE
- Neighborhood profiles for optimized energy transformation processes – E-PROFIL
- Communal public services in the context of the new generation of European trade agreements (TTIP, CETA, TiSA)