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Artificial intelligence: Better data processing and editing are key
In today’s age of digitalization and artificial intelligence, data is becoming an increasingly important asset for society. We live in a data-based and data-driven economy. New business models depend on the availability of reliable, up-to-date data that guarantees transparency and resilience. However, if this data is not properly processed and maintained, it is often useless. A team led by Professor Axel Polleres, head of the Institute for Data, Process and Knowledge Management at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), has conducted a study to determine which data is actually important to people and developed methods to make data easier to use, for both people and machines.
Socialism and the private sector: The making of ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’
In the late 1970s, the Chinese government launched an ambitious program to promote private sector development – after decades of suppression and violent condemnation of anyone engaged in private capitalism. A study carried out at the Vienna University of Economics and Business investigates the precarious work done to reintroduce economic activities that had previously been considered illegal, immoral, and anachronistic. The study finds that such seemingly ‘transgressive’ change was facilitated through the negotiation and construction of regulatory and rhetorical distinctions that progressively reshaped understandings of what was (or was not) consistent with Chinese socialism.
New study: Who actually reads annual reports?
The annual report is one of the most important publications of any publicly listed company. However, only very little is known about the readers of annual reports and the things they are interested in.
A new model to monitor food insecurity
Food insecurity affects almost 33% of the world’s population.
The brighter side of materialism
In Asia, rapid economic growth and increasing prosperity among the middle classes have led to a surge in consumption. This is often seen as a move towards materialism and individualism. A study carried out at WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) shows, however, that consumption in collectivist societies – i.e. societies that place the interests of the community over those of the individual – is more pro-social than in individualistic societies.
Gerhard Speckbacher wins ACA Prize in Financial Governance
The University of St. Gallen honors Prof. Gerhard Speckbacher, WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business), with the 2020 ACA Prize in Financial Governance, awarded by the Institute of Accounting, Control and Auditing.
Working together is critical to understanding new technologies
Collaboration between firms and industries is key to understanding emerging technologies, new research from WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) has revealed.
How business moods affect lending decisions
What role do optimistic and pessimistic expectations play in the financial markets? And how do these sentiments affect banks’ lending decisions? This question is at the heart of a recent study by Professor Ingrid Kubin, head of the Institute for International Economics and Development at WU (Vienna University of Economics), and her co-authors.
Jesús Crespo Cuaresma elected member of the Academia Europaea
Prof. Jesús Crespo Cuaresma has been appointed a full member of the Academia Europaea. The head of the Institute of Macroeconomics and deputy head of the Department of Economics is the second researcher from the Vienna University of Economics and Business to be elected to the Academia Europaea, following Prof. Harald Eberhard.
Stress test for investment portfolios developed
Central banks and financial regulators are increasingly aware that climate change poses a major threat to economic and financial stability. Investors and financial markets are also subject to climate-related risks. This means that climate change will have long-term effects on everyone’s prosperity: This is the conclusion reached by Senior Assistant Professor Irene Monasterol from WU’s Institute for Ecological Economics.
Individual incentives: How pay influences performance
How should companies design individual pay incentives? Do employees automatically work harder if they receive more pay? Isabella Grabner from the Institute for Strategic Management and Managerial Accounting at WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) and Melissa Martin (University of Illinois) have investigated the effects of pay dispersion, i.e. the variation between salaries. The result: Individual differences in pay levels are only accepted as fair if they clearly correspond to different levels of performance. Only in such cases will individual pay incentives have positive effects on performance.
Refugees in Austria are healthier than refugees in Germany
June 20 is World Refugee Day. A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE looks at the health situation of asylum seekers and refugees in Germany and Austria. Together with coauthors from Germany, researchers from WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) compared the self-reported health status of refugees in the two countries. One of their key findings: Unrestricted access to the health care system from day one, as provided in Austria, leads to better health.