290050 VO Economic Structure of Austrian Regions (2015W)

The main intention of the lecture is to improve the knowledge of the students about the regional structure of the Austrian economy. Additionally some theories of economic geography should be consolidated and strategies of regional policy should be discussed. The lecture is based on the classification of the political districts of Austria into 9 "Economic Regions"; (Palme, 1995). These 9 "Economic Regions" are subdivisions of three grouped Economic Regions (humancapitalintensive, physicalcapitalintensive and labourintensive resp. Rural regions). In the first part are the theorectical concepts of structural economic regions taught. In the second main part there will be the factors of location, the structure of specialization, the competitiveness, the mid-term dynamics and the characteristics of the labour nmarket as well as the adequate regional policy for each region discussed. The empirical analysis is based an updated statistical materials (tables, diagrams), which are given to the students. The content of the lecture will be checked in oral tests.