Recordings

Summer semester 2026

Are Our Pensions Safe?

Greatness Code

It’s Time to Rethink Work

So, How Much Do You Make?

AI Controversies

Global Minimum Tax vs. Tax Havens

Debates on the future of our pension system focus primarily on financial sustainability, age limits, and pension levels, while little attention is given to the profound ongoing changes in wage developments and the job market. Careers have become more diverse and often shorter, and career interruptions are increasing. How does this affect the financial viability of our pay-as-you-go pension system? What does it mean for our individual retirement security? And how can we build a sustainable system that ensures fair pensions for everyone?

Lecture

Christine Mayrhuber, “Challenges in the Austrian old-age provision system”

Markus Knell, “Can income-dependent pension replacement rates ensure fair pensions?”

Discussion

Christoph Badelt, President of the Austrian Fiscal Advisory Council, Chair of the Austrian Productivity Board, Full Professor from 1997 to 2019, Rector of WU from 2002 to 2015

Gabriel Felbermayr, Director of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), Full Professor at WU Vienna

Markus Knell, Economist with the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, specializing in macroeconomics, demography, and pension systems

Christine Mayrhuber, Member of the Austrian Long-Term Old-Age Provision Financing Commission (Alterssicherungskommission), Deputy Director and Economist at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO)

Andrea Weber, Labor Market Economist and Full Professor of Economics at the Central European University, Co-Editor of the Journal of the European Economic

Moderated by

Marina Delcheva, Profil, Head of Economics Department

You want to create an authentic personal brand that stands out and build relationships that open doors? You want to learn how to adapt to an ever-changing professional landscape without losing focus and develop a positive mindset to overcome setbacks? Alan Guarino, founding member of Korn Ferry’s CEO Succession practice in New York, presents his formula for success. Through compelling anecdotes, actionable advice, and research-based strategies, Greatness Code empowers you to achieve your personal and career-related goals.

Lecture

Alan Guarino, Best selling author of Greatness Code: The Formula Behind Unstoppable Success and Vice Chairman of Korn Ferry     

Moderated by

Patricia Klarner, Full Professor, Head of the Institute for Organization Design, WU Vienna

The job market is transforming fast. Artificial intelligence and new technologies are fundamentally changing business processes, while jobs are being cut due to the weak economy. Uncertainties abound for young professionals. Even highly qualified graduates need to ask themselves what skills they need to build a successful career and to take an active role in shaping the future of the economy and society. And then the question is: Can these skills even be learned in the classroom?

Discussion

Ursula Axmann, CEO, WU ZBP Career Center

Christine Juen, Head of Communications, AMS Austria

Isabella Grabner, Professor, Institute for Strategy and Managerial Accounting, WU Vienna

Rita Niedermayr, Partner in People Consulting at EY Austria

Moderated by

Niklas Andree and Martin Vogl, WU Vienna

Depending on their gender, people still receive different pay levels for comparable types of work. Even though this form of pay discrimination was made illegal decades ago, the gender pay gap still hasn’t gone away. Can greater transparency help to reduce the gender pay gap and shed light on other types of inequality? Should everybody in a team know how much money everyone else is making? Or does this kind of transparency only create new tensions and conflicts?

Discussion

Susanne Auer-Mayer, Full Professor, Head of the Institute for Austrian and European Labor Law and Social Security Law, WU Vienna
Sieglinde Gahleitner, Honorary Professor, Member of the Austrian Constitutional Court, Lawyer, Austrian Constitutional Court/Gahleitner attorneys
Rolf Gleißner, Head of the Social and Health Policy Division, Austrian Economic Chamber
Romana Wochner, Women and Gender Equality Policy, Vienna Chamber of Labor

Moderated by

Christoph Kietaibl, Full Professor, Deputy Head of the Institute for Austrian and European Labor Law and Social Security Law, WU Vienna

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere. It’s taking on more and more tasks that were previously thought to be reserved for humans. Even highly cognitive and knowledge-intensive work can now be automated through generative AI. Is AI surpassing our human capabilities, or even making us redundant? What role will human ideas and human work play in the future? Which skills and competencies will become more important, and which will become obsolete? And what does this mean for human learning? What must go into a good education today, and what goals does it need to achieve?

Discussion

Christoph Wiederkehr, Federal Minister of Education

Anita Eichinger, Director of the Vienna Library

Marie-Christine Kainz, Student and Deputy Chair ÖH WU

Alexander Mädche, Professor of Business Informatics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Moderated by

Thomas Grisold, WU Wien, Professor 

Shifting profits to tax havens saves corporations a lot of money. The global minimum tax was intended to stop this practice and ensure more fairness in global taxation. However, the effort involved has proven to be considerable, and the rules still vary from country to country. In addition, debates around the global minimum tax have been heating up recently amid growing economic tensions. By now, some are even considering the complete abolishment of the global minimum tax, only two years after it was passed into law. What new developments are emerging? And is there a viable alternative?

Keynote

Harald Amberger, WU Vienna, Professor

Es diskutieren

Tibor Hanappi, International Monetary Fund, Senior Economics

Christina Reichart, OMV AG, Vice President Tax Group

Jana Schultheiß, Vienna Chamber of Labor, Head of Tax Law Department

Alfons Weichenrieder, Goethe University and WU Vienna, Professor

Moderation

Eva Eberhartinger, WU Vienna, Professor