Department of Economics, University of Graz

The research activities of the Institute of Economics are focused on the understanding of the working principles of market economies in the national and international context. Particular interest is placed on the economic and social dynamics of modern economies, which is also the main research area of the closely associated Graz Schumpeter Centre. The success of market economies measured by the increase in the standards of living of social classes was accompanied by external costs to the natural and social environment. The analysis of the diverse ecological externalities and their economic regulation is our second main research focus: climate, environment and space. The close connection with the Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change has to be pointed out regarding this field of expertise. Furthermore, several members of the Institute are involved in the university’s interdisciplinary research core areas: "Modeling and Simulation", "Environment and Global Change" and "heterogeneity and cohesion". *Economic and Social Dynamics* Our main fields of research include many different branches. The focus “Economic and Social Dynamics” encompasses the following topics. * Gender research and labor economics * Dynamic fiscal policy with social externalities * Social and family policy (together with the Institute of Public Economics) * Theory of production and income distribution * International comparisons of living standards and the measurement of asset prices * History of economic thought and social change * International macroeconomics, international trade and multinational companies * Econometrics and empirical economics *Global Change: Climate, Environment and Space* The branch "Global change: climate, environment and space" includes the following research fields: * Climate policy in the national and international context * Sustainable transport policy * Sectoral strategies to adapt to weather anomalies * Macroeconomic assessment of the effects of climate change on agriculture, tourism and energy * Dynamics of exhaustible and renewable resources