Press releases 2022

The IHS Board of Trustees has decided to start negotiations with the renowned economist Prof. Dr. Holger Bonin to fill the position of scientific director at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS).

In 2022, real GDP in Austria is expected to have grown by 4.8 %. Since the middle of the year, however, economic growth has lost momentum due to the sharp rise in energy prices, high uncertainty, and the weaker international demand.

On November 29, the artworks by three students of the Department of Drawing were presented to the public in a vernissage and remain on loan at the Institute.

The DigiTyps conference at IHS addressed the impact of digitization on gender roles. Surveys show that gender roles in the world of work are little affected by digitization.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerability of vital structures in society in many areas. This is the starting point for the EU-funded project SUNRISE that kicked-off in October.

The Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG) aims to increase the share of renewable energies in total electricity consumption to 100 percent by 2030. This means an expansion of domestic electricity generation from renewable energy sources by 27 terawatt hours (TWh). While the potential for hydropower has largely been exhausted, the law sets ambitious targets, particularly in the areas of photovoltaics and wind power. 

The severe rise in inflation, exacerbated by the war against Ukraine, and high uncertainty weigh on the global economy. However, due to extremely strong growth in the first half of the year, the Austrian economy is expected to expand by 4.7% this year. For the coming year, growth of only 0.3% is expected.

Dr. Klaus Weyerstraß takes over as head of the IHS Research Group for Regional Science and Environmental Research as of October 1. Up to now, the senior researcher has been working in the research group for macroeconomics and business cycle; he will continue in his role as the designated expert for international business cycle and foreign trade.

On September 15, Julia Studencki was appointed Secretary General of IHS and is thus responsible for the commercial management of the research institution.

The Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) is planning to renew its logo and is launching an open ideas competition. A total of 2,500 euros in prize money will be awarded to three winners.

IHS will receive a base grant of EUR 4,050,000 for 2022-24. The Institute's management would like to thank the OeNB for its trust and its scientists for their excellent work.

On September 15, 2022, two young female scientists were honored for their achievements in the field of higher education research. The appreciation and ceremonial awarding took place on the occasion of the 17th annual conference of the Society for Research on Higher Education, which was organized by the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna from September 14 to 16, 2022.

The annual conference of the Society for Higher Education Research (GfHf) convenes for the 17th time this year and will take place under the motto "New times - old strategies?". The conference is organized by the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS), venue is the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.

Since July 27, 2022, the Austrian parliament has explicitly stipulated through an amendment to the Federal Constitutional Law (B-VG) that studies commissioned by the public sector and financed with taxpayers' money must be published. 

The IHS Price Monitor has recently started to show inflation rates by income decile. Different consumption patterns mean that the prices of some groups of goods have a stronger impact on household inflation than others.

The Institute for Advanced Studies will be involved in the preparation of the in the preparation of the Joint Economic Forecast in the next four years. The Institute was involved in the tender of the of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) to produce the Joint Economic Forecast as a partner of the RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research. The aim of the Joint Economic Forecast is to analyse and forecast the development of the global and German economy and to derive economic policy recommendations. It is published twice a year, in spring and autumn, and provides a reference for the projections of the German Federal Government. (Press release available in German only)

A current IHS Policy Brief deals with the question of how behavioral science can support the reduction of energy consumption and the use of renewable energy sources.

High inflation and the turmoil resulting from the war against Ukraine are slowing down the global economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. For the forecast period 2022 to 2026, IHS expects real GDP in Austria to increase by an average of 1 ¾ % per year. In 2022, inflation is expected to climb to an average rate of 7 ½ %, which has been primarily driven by rising energy prices. By 2026, inflationary pressures should ease noticeably, so that inflation should fall to 2 ¼ %. The unemployment rate is expected to be 6 ¼ % over the entire forecast period. Having had to focus on immediate crisis management in recent years, economic policy should now return to strengthening the Austrian economy's potential output and supporting the energy transition. (Press release available in German only)

Climate protection and sustainability are among the most pressing challenges of our time, also in the financial sector. To promote sustainable investments in the environmental, social and governance areas, the EU is introducing new regulations as part of the Green Deal, the Sustainable Finance Action Plan and the Taxonomy Regulation. From August 2022, it will be mandatory for financial institutions to ask customers about their sustainability preferences during the advisory meeting. (Press release available in German only)

Press release available in German only

Elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is one of the most important causal factors in the development of atherosclerosis (= vasoconstriction). Annually, more deaths in Austria are attributable to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) such as myocardial infarction and stroke than to all cancers combined. This makes it the number one cause of death and an enormous health economic cost factor. (Press release available in German only)

In a joint statement, IHS and WIFO propose measures to combat the currently high inflation and its effects.

In a study funded by the BMK, IHS has calculated the economic effects of the expansion of biomass, biomethane, photovoltaics, hydropower and wind power in terms of investments and operating costs for the years 2021-2032. (Press release available in German only)

Future Operations Platform members presented covid scenarios for fall 2022 in a press conference. An interdisciplinary approach is now critical for successful pandemic containment. High-level conference discusses results of research to date on pandemic and its societal impact. (Press release available in German only)

To provide an overview of current inflation developments, the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) has launched the IHS Price Monitor. The research tool presents price developments graphically and also enables a breakdown into individual subsectors.

No one knows what the fall of 2022 will bring. This makes it all the more important to make use of the experience with the pandemic and the findings of science. What can we learn from past crisis management for the future? And how can new knowledge be best used for evidence-based decisions?

The second edition of the conference series poses multiple, topical questions: What is the state of the art in research that provides evidence for policy making in Austria? How is the collection of evidence necessary for evidence-based decision making influenced by policymakers responding to policy incentives? Could evidence itself become a topic of policy debate? What does the political rhetoric of "post-truth" mean for the future of evidence-based policymaking?

Priv. Doz. Dr. Katharina Gangl has been appointed Head of the Behavioural Economics (Insight Austria) research group at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS). Dr. Gangl, an economic psychologist who also teaches and is habilitated at the University of Vienna, was selected from an international pool of candidates and appointed by IHS-president Franz Fischler as a replacement for Prof. Dr, Martin Kocher, who was Head of the research group as well as Director of the IHS before he became Minister of Labour in 2021.

Negotiations for the appointment of the interim scientific director for the Institute for Advanced Studies have been successfully concluded. After intensive preliminary discussions, the choice fell on Prof. Dr. Klaus Neusser, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Bern and former researcher at IHS.

The German economy is steering through difficult waters and faces the highest inflation rates in decades. In their spring report, the leading German economic research institutes revise their outlook for this year significantly downward. The recovery from the COVID-19 crisis is slowing down as a result of the war in Ukraine, but remains on track. The institutes expect GDP to increase by 2.7 and 3.1 percent in 2022 and 2023 respectively. In the event of an immediate interruption to Russian gas supplies, a total of 220 billion euros in German economic output would be at risk in both years.

Shanghai is the latest example of China's rigid covid policy. The metropolis has been in lockdown since March 28, public life has largely come to a standstill and reports of supply bottlenecks are mounting. Beyond national problems, however, China's zero covid policy also poses challenges for the global economy.

On the occasion of this year's World Health Day, the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) presents results on obesity and overweight in Austria based on the Austrian Health Interview Survey (ATHIS). The figures were collected especially in connection with concomitant diseases and in relation to the working life of people with overweight. Serious effects of the disease on society and the economy are revealed.

IHS President Franz Fischler clarifies that the Institute for Advanced Studies was in constructive discussions with the University of Vienna, but unfortunately these did not reach a positive conclusion due to the statement of the responsible faculty, as Rector Heinz W. Engl informed the president.

The Institute for Advanced Studies will appoint an interim director in the coming weeks, who will serve for up to 12 months and manage the business of academic operations.

Together with IHS, Altstoff Recycling Austria AG (ARA) initiated a nudging study in Krems, Steyr and Leoben on the collection behavior of people in Austria in the out-of-home sector. The influence of containers for separate packaging collection in public spaces on the collection rate and littering was investigated.

In a digital certificate ceremony on March 2, 2022, the Institute for Advanced Studies was awarded the state's Family Friendliness Seal of Approval.

"Not least the political headlines about problematic and questionable practices of individual survey institutes have revealed that a transparent and comprehensible set of rules is needed for the commissioning, preparation and use of commissioned studies," explained the research institutions AIT, IHS, JR, WIFO and wiiw during a joint media chat on 28 January 2022.

The first pig heart transplant is not only a medical milestone, but also a taboo. For in addition to technical issues, the procedure also raises a number of social and ethical problems.

A multidisciplinary team of over 30 scientists from across Europe has come together to issue a statement on combating the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. The statement was published in the prestigious British Medical Journal (BMJ) on 13 January 2022.