WIFO Research Seminar, Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Wien, 31.05.2021 13:30
Veranstalter: Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung
Online seit: 17.05.2021 0:00
Research question(s): How much harm results from cyber incidents? − Which security interventions effectively reduce
harm? − Have these answers changed over time? • Approach: Systematization of the empirical literature in several disciplines
• Data: Stock markets, financial disclosures, insurance claims, news reports (breach disclosures), technical measurements,
survey responses • Main result(s): Studies disagree on the harm resulting from cyber incidents − Omitted variables
and sampling biases cast doubt on many results − Indicators of exposure explain more variance than indicators of preventive
security − Very little is known about systemic cyber risk• Policy implication(s): The market can handle individual
cyber losses, but externalities creating systemic cyber risk require policy attention. Statistical institutes should extend
the collection of cyber risk indicators on a representative basis.
WIFO Research Seminar, Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Wien, 15.09.2020
Online seit: 17.06.2020 0:00
Using data for the period 2010M06-2017M02, this study investigates the possibility of predicting total tourist arrivals to
four Austrian cities (Graz, Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Vienna) from LIKES of posts on the Facebook pages of the destination
management organisations of these cities. Google Trends data are also incorporated in investigating whether forecast models
with LIKES and/or with Google Trends deliver more accurate forecasts. To capture the dynamics in the data, the autoregressive
distributed lag (ADL) model class is employed. Taking into account the daily frequency of the original LIKES data, the mixed
data sampling (MIDAS) model class is employed as well. While time-series benchmarks from the naive, error-trend-seasonal,
and autoregressive moving average model classes perform best for Graz and Innsbruck across forecast horizons and forecast
accuracy measures, ADL models incorporating only LIKES or both LIKES and Google Trends generally outperform their competitors
for Salzburg. For Vienna, the MIDAS model including both LIKES and Google Trends produces the smallest forecast accuracy measure
values for most forecast horizons.
Vortragsreihe "WIFO-Extern", Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Wien, 15.05.2019
Online seit: 24.04.2019 0:00
Large internal wage disparities between cities can be found worldwide. On the basis of data for Germany, the lecture identifies
"assortative matching" of highly qualified employees and companies in large cities as a central driver of this development.
A promising strategy to reduce spatial wage disparities is to improve matching in small cities.
Vortragsreihe "WIFO-Extern", Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Wien, 17.12.2018
Online seit: 28.11.2018 0:00
Recent years have seen rapid developments in drone technology. Today, drones have the potential to become a reliable technology
for civil, commercial and leisure use, presenting both opportunities and risks for societies. Although surveys have forecast
likely public support for the use of drones, widespread introduction will need to be accompanied by regulation to address
privacy, competition, sustainability, safety and security concerns and be benchmarked against existing transport options.
Current government regulation of drones tends to be either too restrictive (hampering the development of new designs), or
lagging behind (causing reluctance among potential end-users to adopt drone use). Governments must, therefore, be acquainted
with developments taking place in the international context of the industry – particularly when considering transport sector
use cases. In this talk we will explore the rapidly developing concept designs for drones and drone services, questions of
acceptability of drone services, and their safe integration within the transport system as a whole. We will also consider
the use of drones for different scales of payloads – both freight and passenger transport – as well as their potential as
a support to other modes and aspects of transport, e.g., logistics, monitoring, maintenance and emergency services. The insights
from the discussion will be taken into account in the ongoing OECD Working Group on "Drones – Acceptability and Integration
with the Transport System".
Vortragsreihe "WIFO-Extern", Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Wien, 21.09.2018
Online seit: 31.08.2018 0:00
In most industrialised countries, differences in economic outcomes between regions are just as pronounced as differences between
countries. Since these disparities are linked to divergence in many other outcomes, from health and mortality to family formation
and politics, it is important to understand the sources of these inequalities and possible ways how to reduce them. Increasing
international trade volumes and technological progress are among the most important trends in the past decades, which have
also contributed substantially to the manifestation of regional disparities. In this talk, I will discuss the evidence on
the causal effects of increasing trade with China and Eastern Europe as well as the increasing use of industrial robots on
(regional) inequality. These insights lead to conclusions on how policymakers could react to those trends.
The 11th international workshop in honour of Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois at
Urbana–Champaign and member of WIFO's International Board, focuses on topics around the urban-rural divide as well as winning
and losing regions in times of increasingly digitalised economies and societies.
Vortragsreihe "WIFO-Extern", Österreichisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Wien, 03.05.2018
Online seit: 20.04.2018 0:00
Digital platform firms led by Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft are changing social life, work, competition and,
ultimately, value creation and capture. Today, the five US giants plus Alibaba and Tencent are the most valuable firms in
the world. The increasing centrality of digital platforms for organising competition, work, and value creation is changing
the balance of power between labour and employer and within a variety of supply chains. Not only do we have the salient cases
of work contracting platforms such as Upwork and services platforms such as Uber and Lyft, but also there are new opportunities
for generating income such as the Airbnb, app stores, YouTube, and beyond. Remarkably, even when workers are not displaced,
platforms such as Yelp and TripAdvisor affect the work and management process. Digital platforms are also transforming the
dynamics of competition in a wide variety of industries from services, logistics and finance through entertainment and music.
I explore these dynamics and speculate how inter-firm competition might be impacted particularly as the platform giants become
increasingly intertwined in all social and economic life and can leverage their existing power to enter yet other value-creation
opportunities.
Von der zunehmenden Digitalisierung des Arbeitsmarktes sind wichtige Themen wie Wettbewerbsrecht, Arbeitnehmerrechte und die
Finanzierung des Sozialstaates betroffen. In neuen virtuellen Produktionsräumen verschwimmen traditionelle Grenzen zwischen
betrieblichem und externem Humankapital, zwischen abhängiger und selbständiger Beschäftigung, zwischen betrieblichem und individuellem
Risiko. Die 11. Sozialstaatsenquete widmet sich dem Ausmaß und dem Umfang der neuen plattformbasierten Produktionsweisen in
Europa und Österreich. Die betrieblichen Abläufe der durchlässigen Wertschöpfungsketten stehen ebenso im Mittelpunkt wie die
Chancen und Risiken von plattformbasierter Leistungserbringung und die damit zusammenhängenden Arbeitsbeziehungen.
The Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) in cooperation with the Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), the German
speaking section of the European Regional Science Association, are very pleased to announce their joint International Summer
Conference in honor of Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and
member of WIFO's Scientific Board. This year's workshop will focus on topics around digitalisation, settlement patterns and
urbanisation. Additionally, empirical contributions falling in the broader range of regional economics are also welcome. The
topics of interest include, but are not limited to, questions related to: regional growth and cohesion – regional specialisation
– regional location analyses, spatial location choice and location concepts – geographical impact of economic policy measures
– regional labour markets – regional tourism – regional planning.