Monthly wood supply behavior of associated forest owners in Austria—Insights from the analysis of a micro-econometric panel

This paper examines the wood supply from non-industrial private forest owners in Austria. The main novelty of this study is threefold. First, the underlying dataset is based on monthly wood supply. This enables an analysis of seasonal supply behavior, which is found to be different in relation to the size of the forestland. Second, it represents an original study with a dataset from a Central European country whose forest owners are apparently much more fragmented than their Scandinavian or North American counterparts. And third, the study introduces a windfall variable that effectively corrects for a market-relevant storm event. With respect to methodology, a random effects Tobit model is applied. Additionally, a Chamberlain-like term is included in the regression to deal with a possible bias generated through the correlation of regressors and unobserved heterogeneity.     

Has Austria’s Accession to the EU Triggered an Increase in Competition? A Sectoral Markup Study

We estimate the pro-competitive effects of Austrias participation in the Single Market after its European Union (EU) accession in 1995 in terms of firms market power as measured by the Lerner index, using a sample of 46 industries and 7 industry groups, covering the period 1978–2001. In the framework of the markup estimation method suggested by Roeger (1995), we test for both an instantaneous structural break between 1993 and 1998 and also estimate logistic smooth transition models to take up the proposition that the regime shift is likely to have occurred gradually rather than as a big bang. In sum, the results provide no reason for being euphoric: Pronounced markup reductions were only found in three industry groups (mining and quarrying, wholesale and retail trade; financial services and real estate). At the more disaggregate level, the picture is mixed: Both increases and reductions in market power have been found.     

Exploring Relationships Between Recreation Specialization,Restorative Environments and Mountain Hikers’ Flow Experience

This study explored the relationships between the perception of restorative natural environments, specialization in mountain hiking and flow experience. On-site interviews were conducted at mountain huts in the Salzkammergut, Austria, in 2009. The analysis of 369 hikers suggests that a relationship exists among recreation specialization, the perception of restorative environments and flow. With increasing specialization, people are more likely to experience flow. The restorative quality dimensions of “being away,” “fascination” and “compatibility” with the mountainous landscape were positive predictors of flow experience.     

Publish or Perish? The Increasing Importance of Publications for Prospective Economics Professors in Austria,Germany and Switzerland

Abstract. Tenure decisions depend, among other factors, on a candidate's career age and publication record. We associate publications with journal articles indexed in EconLit and measure publication output in equivalents of both top‐five journal articles and European Economic Review (EER) articles. We find that the average age of a professor in the year of his/her first appointment is 38, i.e. he or she is appointed approximately eight years after completing the PhD. Between 1970 and 2006, the average publication record at the time of the first appointment is equivalent to 1.5 standardized top‐five articles or 2.3 standardized EER articles. Publication records vary across subfields and have become more substantial over time. We predict that someone aspiring to a tenured position after 2011 should aim at an equivalent of four standardized top‐five articles or six standardized EER articles.     

Persistence of Shocks to Output in Austria and Theories of Economic Growth

The paper analyzes the degree of output persistence in GDP in order toempirically discriminate between the Solow growth model, the perfect competition endogenous growth model and the imperfect competition endogenous growth model for the case of Austria. Wefind that a shock in the growth rate of output induces a permanent and larger effect on the level of GDP. This leads us to refute the Solow growth model and the perfect competition model of endogenous growth.We may not reject the imperfect competition growth model.     

A clinical- and cost-effectiveness comparison of venlafaxine and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the management of patients with major depressive disorder from the perspective of an Austrian sickness fund

Summary

This study evaluated the relative clinical-and cost-effectiveness of venlafaxine (Efectin®, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Austria) extended release (ER), venlafaxine instant release (IR) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the treatment of major depressive disorder. The study took an Austrian sickness fund perspective and the evaluation originally formed part of a reimbursement submission of venlafaxine ER to the Hauptverband — an umbrella organisation representing the Austrian sickness funds.

At the time of the submission venlafaxine IR was reimbursed but published data and clinical practice suggested that it might be clinically inferior, less convenient and less acceptable to patients than the newer ER formulation. We believe this is the first study to directly compare the two venlafaxine formulations.

Major depressive disorder is a serious mental illness associated with considerable morbidity and a significant economic burden. An extensive literature review was carried out to retrieve the relevant clinical data and a meta-analysis of the homogeneous data was undertaken to establish the most clinically effective first-line treatment. An Austrian Delphi panel was used to provide treatment pattern data and to estimate outcomes for patients undergoing further lines of treatment. A 16-week time horizon was adopted and decision analysis was employed to model the cost-effectiveness of the respective agents.     

European Spa World

SUMMARY

In this paper, we describe an international project for developing ‘Wellness Tourism’ across four regions of central Europe. The paper examines this project from the virewpoint of knowledge management and the partnerships involved in this project.     

Strategies of disadvantaged mountain dairy farmers as indicators of agricultural structural change: A case study of Murau,Austria

The decline in the number of farms, seen as one of the main dimensions of agricultural structural change, is presumed to predominantly take place in areas with farming difficulties, such as the disadvantaged European Alpine mountain regions. Especially regarding dairy farms, facing profound changes due to pending EU policy reforms, many questions remain unanswered concerning structural change patterns. This paper presents a follow-up qualitative study that for the first time visualizes a pattern of farm household strategies among Austrian dairy farmers in a specific particularly disadvantaged mountain region. The pattern contains disengaging farms, professionalizing farms, and three differing types of stable reproduction farms. The examination shows that this revealed typology provides a suitable framework for the ex ante indication of agricultural structural change.     

Contaminant,Commodity and Fuel: A Multi-sited Study of Waste's roles in Urban Transformations from Italy to Austria

This article traces the flow of municipal solid waste from southern Italy through a waste-to-energy facility and district heating system in Austria, examining the roles that waste's transformation from contaminant to commodity to fuel plays in interconnected, distributed, and contested urbanization processes. It contends that, while metabolic circulation hides socioecological costs in one place to facilitate valorization in another, specific spatial configurations emerge through territorialization—of waste economies, in this case—providing the spatial base to realize metabolic flows and to anchor political narratives. A decisive effect is that certain patterns of urbanization become locked-in, impeding alternative metabolic transitions and spatial configurations. Attending to the coproduction of three sites—Naples, Italy; Zwentendorf, Austria; and St Pölten, Austria—through the circulation and transformation of waste and energy the article provides an empirical multi-sited case study of a political ecology of urbanization.     

Going Beyond Impact Factors: A Survey‐based Journal Ranking by Agricultural Economists

A consistent and comprehensive ranking of journals relevant for agricultural economists cannot rely on impact factors for at least two major reasons: (i) the scientific database by Thomson Reuters, on which the standard impact factor is based, includes only a very limited number of relevant journals; (ii) the standard impact factor cannot be compared across research fields of different sizes. Survey‐based journal rankings may overcome these problems. We report on such a survey‐based ranking initiated by the Agricultural Economics Associations of Germany and Austria. Results of the ranking and a classification of journals, i.e. a rating, are provided for 160 selected journals. Scientific quality is assessed by an index based on the researchers’ perception of the quality standards of each journal and of the quality of its published articles. The survey‐based ranking allows a much more comprehensive and consistent ranking than the impact factor, as specific agricultural economics journals can be directly compared with neighbouring economic and interdisciplinary journals to which agricultural economists submit their work. The low impact factors of core agricultural economics journals are put into perspective. The scientific quality of the top agricultural economics journals is assessed as being rather high and above most of the relevant interdisciplinary journals from agricultural and food sciences that are typically characterised by higher impact factors. Agricultural economists’ perceptions on the scientific quality of the journals vary more across journals than perceptions of their relevance.