Austrian Perspective Research Articles

Position paper: Open-source technology in the treatment of people living with diabetes mellitus-an Austrian perspective : Technology Committee of the Austrian Diabetes Association

People living with diabetes mellitus can be supported in the daily management by diabetes technology with automated insulin delivery (AID) systems to reduce the risk of hypoglycemia and improve glycemic control as well as the quality of life. Due to barriers in the availability of AID-systems, the use and development of open-source AID-systems have internationally increased. This technology provides a necessary alternative to commercially available products, especially when approved systems are inaccessible or insufficiently adapted to the specific needs of the users. Open-source technology is characterized by worldwide free availability of codes on the internet, is not officially approved and therefore the use is on the individual's own responsibility. In the clinical practice a lack of expertise with open-source AID technology and concerns about legal consequences, lead to conflict situations for health-care professionals (HCP), sometimes resulting in the refusal of care of people living with diabetes mellitus. This position paper provides an overview of the available evidence and practical guidance for HCP to minimize uncertainties and barriers. People living with diabetes mellitus must continue to be supported in education and diabetes management, independent of the chosen diabetes technology including open-source technology. Check-ups of the metabolic control, acute and chronic complications and screening for diabetes-related diseases are necessary and should be regularly carried out, regardless of the chosen AID-system and by a multidisciplinary team with appropriate expertise.

The role of health economics within health technology assessment: past, present, and future - an Austrian perspective.

In many countries, the economics domain forms a routine part of health technology assessments (HTA) next to analyzing the comparative effectiveness and safety of a technology. The method applied most often is economic evaluation, such as cost-effectiveness analysis, which is supposed to support the efficient use of resources. In Austria, economic evaluation has played a negligible role in HTA and reimbursement decisions, even though the country faces the same public healthcare sustainability challenges as others. In this commentary, we argue that while health economics will need to play a more active role in HTA-related decision support to deal with those challenges, current approaches in other countries may have to be broadened to fit the Austrian context. We are outlining four arguments to underpin this perspective: First, economic evaluations (in their current form) are of limited benefit for supporting reimbursement decisions of new high-priced technologies. Second, a broader variety of health economic methods is needed to address the scope of technologies. Third, applying health economic methods requires a reflection on their underlying values. Finally, health economics within HTA needs to go beyond microeconomic analysis of interventions. We are suggesting several alternative methods and approaches, encouraging out-of-the-box thinking and experimenting with methods developed in the academic context but rarely applied in routine HTA. Although some of our topics are unique to Austria, others may equally apply to other healthcare systems. With our thoughts, we aim to stimulate discussions for further developing health economics within HTA in Austria and internationally.

Financial innovation, optimal financing structure, an Austrian perspective

Financial innovation, optimal financing structure, an Austrian perspective

It’s All About “Being There”

Ethnomusicologists often move into the field to observe, analyse, and describe the knowledge creation and negotiation practices of a musical tradition. However, the scenarios caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have proven to be a challenge to the practice of our ethnographic work. We were prevented from going to the field and musicians could not meet physically to develop their musicking, partially transferring their practices to various digital platforms. Although the pandemic confronts us with previously unthinkable challenges, some of these situations are not new if we think about musical practices like those of TikTok. Beyond the time of the pandemic, these practices have already shown to be a challenge for various theoretical and methodological conceptions of our ethnographic work, since they do not materialize in concrete practices in a given place. In this article, drawing on my ethnographic research on TikTok musicking from an Austrian perspective, as well as my reflections as an ethnomusicologist during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, I will discuss the idea of musical geography through practice, as well as the concepts of presence and co-presence, to critically reflect on the ideas of “being there” or “being present”, so important in ethnographic work. In addition to these reflections, I will examine and discuss various experiences lived throughout the musicking of TikTok under a multimedia reality before and during the pandemic, in order to discuss the idea that musical geography through practice can change our perspectives on the field pre- and post-pandemic.

Cash in the Trash? An Austrian Perspective on Mobile Payment Adoption

Despite offering many benefits to consumers, merchants, banks, and other providers, mobile payment still has not found widespread acceptance in Austria, for example, in 2015, 15% of Austrian consumers used the Internet or a mobile device for payments and 16% made contactless payments at least once a week. This study sheds light on this issue by taking a consumer perspective and investigating the factors that foster or hinder mobile payment adoption. Three popular user acceptance models were compared and in the end, a unified theory of acceptance and use of technologybased model (UTAUT2) was chosen. The developed model was composed of 12 factors (behavioral intention, utilitarian performance expectancy, hedonic performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, perceived risk, perceived security, privacy concerns, trust, cost, personal innovativeness) and three moderators (age, gender, experience). The proposed model was tested using data from 158 Austrian consumers and analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that 68% of consumers’ intention to use mobile payments could be explained, making it a promising model in the mobile payment research area based on the baseline data. Perceived risk and hedonic performance expectancy are the greatest drivers with psychological risk (a lack of fit with one’s self-image) as the most important risk dimension. The results suggest that mobile payment possesses lifestyle characteristics and its usage needs to be fun in order for consumers to prefer it to cash and cards.
 Keywords: mobile payment adoption, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, user acceptance models, partial least squares structural equation modeling

Corporate Criminal Liability Along the Supply Chain? – An Austrian Perspective

The proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive [CSDDD] has led to numerous questions in various legal areas. However, little has been examined so far regarding whether a breach of the obligations programme that member states must implement into their legal systems based on this directive can also have criminal consequences for corporations that are part of the supply chain. The present paper attempts to provide an initial assessment of these questions based on the Austrian system of criminal liability of legal entities.

Teaching Austrian Economics Through Fiction

While many may be familiar with Henry Hazlitt through his non-fiction writing on Austrian economics, he also published a lesser-known and extremely underappreciated fictional story, Time Will Run Back. Despite the fact that it was the only work of fiction that he ever wrote, it is an absolute Austrian masterpiece that incorporates an extensive amount of Socratic dialogue to not only adeptly guide the reader through Mises’ economic calculation problem but also to teach many of the economic principles associated with it. The main theme of the book is that “if capitalism did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it — and its discovery would be rightly regarded as one of the great triumphs of the human mind” (Hazlitt, 1993, p. 82). This paper reviews the story from an Austrian perspective and discusses some of the creative ways that it manages to teach various economic principles referenced throughout the work.

AUSTRIAN MONEY ATTITUDES IN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON: A META ANALYSIS

The purpose of this article is to compare Austrian results of the Money Attitude Scale test (MAS) to international MAS results. Starting from a literature analysis of the most relevant existing quantitative study results, country specific money attitude characteristics should be identified. Many quantitative studies measuring money attitudes in different parts of the world are available. A widely spread comparison based on results of diverse countries with (money) cultural differences should provide further insight regarding the structure of existing differences, especially from the Austrian perspective. MAS-results are extracted from the existing quantitative studies and analyzed on base of mean values, standard deviations and calculated effect sizes. Major findings indicate the existence of country specific differences: Whereby Austrian money attitudes in comparison to the US and Hungary (Western countries) as well as India and Ghana seem to be relatively similar, major differences are identified in comparison to the Malaysian and Southern African studies.

Do networks matter Social capital and public investors - the Austrian perspective

The underlying study was concerned with governmental venture capital which is grounded in the assumption of market failure and financing gaps for technological start-ups (Güllmann, 2000; Brettel, 2005). The aim of the study was to examine the venture capital market in Austria at the macro and the micro level. First hand collected survey data and secondary data sources were analysed by means of descriptive statistics in order to examine the effectiveness of the public involvement and the public investors' network, syndication rationales and mentoring procedures. The results revealed financing constraints in the later stages of the Austrian venture capital market again (Gassler et al., 2018; Friedl et al., 2019) and also showed that the public investors maintained comprehensive and diverse networks. Therefore, they should also play a pivotal role for the support of regional innovation ecosystems (Pierrakis and Saridakis, 2019) and not for the provision of financings alone.

Do networks matter Social capital and public investors - the Austrian perspective

Do networks matter Social capital and public investors - the Austrian perspective

The Financial Burden of Surgery for Congenital Malformations-The Austrian Perspective.

Neonatal “surgical” malformations are associated with higher costs than major “non-surgical” birth defects. We aimed to analyze the financial burden on the Austrian health system of five congenital malformations requiring timely postnatal surgery. The database of the Austrian National Public Health Institute for the period from 2002 to 2014 was reviewed. Diagnosis-related group (DRG) points assigned to hospital admissions containing five congenital malformations coded as principal diagnosis (esophageal atresia, duodenal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, gastroschisis, and omphalocele) were collected and compared to all hospitalizations for other reasons. Out of 3,518,625 total hospitalizations, there were 1664 admissions of patients with the selected malformations. The annual mean number was 128 (SD 17, range 110–175). The mean cost of the congenital malformations per hospital admission expressed in DRG points was 26,588 (range 0–465,772, SD 40,702) and was significantly higher compared to the other hospitalizations (n = 3,516,961; mean DRG 2194, range 0–834,997; SD 6161; p < 0.05). Surgical conditions requiring timely postnatal surgery place a significant financial burden on the healthcare system. The creation of a dedicated national register could allow for better planning of resource allocation, for improving the outcome of affected children, and for optimizing costs.

Austrian Economics and Entrepreneurship

This symposium includes four papers that investigate entrepreneurship from an Austrian perspective. Bylund and Klein focus on praxeology while the other papers are focused on opportunity discovery and creation (Koppl and Minniti’s paper), effectuation (Bylund and Gupta’s paper), and entrepreneurial action and public policy (Lucas’s paper), grounding that presenter symposium in the field of entrepreneurship. Praxeology and Design: Building Rationalist Foundations for Design Science Presenter: Per L. Bylund; Oklahoma State U. Presenter: Peter G. Klein; Baylor U. Entrepreneurs Discover What Evolution Creates Presenter: Roger Koppl; Syracuse U. Presenter: Maria Minniti; Syracuse U. Effectuation and The Logic of Action: A Critical Assessment from a Praxeological Perspective Presenter: Per L. Bylund; Oklahoma State U. Presenter: Vishal K. Gupta; U. of Alabama Entrepreneurial Action, Public Policy, and Grand Challenges: A Political Economy Perspective Presenter: David Lucas; Syracuse U.

Saving us from the Digital Dark Age: the Austrian perspective

In Austria, archaeological research and excavation practice is shaped by a legislative framework and institutional actors. Besides the institutions, the role of private archaeological contractors has grown in the last decade and recently non-commercial associations have been founded. According to the Austrian Monument Protection Act, the Federal Monuments Authority issues permits for any archaeological excavation or survey activity. Documentation and preservation of physical material are regulated by the Monument Protection Act as well as by dedicated guidelines published by the Federal Monuments Authority. With the recent increased use of digital methods, the importance of preserving and disseminating digital data has risen. Although the Austrian government pursues a digitisation agenda including the promotion of Open Science, the availability of repositories suitable for long-term preservation of digital data does not meet the requirements arising from the ever-increasing amount of data.

Experiencing motherhood and fatherhood with learning difficulties in Austria: The need for self‐determined support

Accessible summary Some parents with learning difficulties are supported by child welfare in raising their child. Many mothers and fathers with learning difficulties have their child removed. This paper is the first published research about being a mother and being father with learning difficulties in Austria. There is not enough good quality support for parents with learning difficulties in Austria. We interviewed six mothers and five fathers with learning difficulties and asked them about who supports them and how. We also asked them what it means to them to be a mother or a father. Most parents said that they get the wrong support and are being checked on by child welfare. One mother said that she gets very helpful support. Being a mother with learning difficulties is different to being a father with learning difficulties. Mothers who have lived with their child feel that they are the main caregivers, but fathers sometimes feel excluded from their child's life. AbstractBackgroundMany parents with learning difficulties face high rates of child welfare intervention and child removal. In contrast to other high‐income countries, there has not been any published research on the lives of mothers and fathers with learning difficulties from an Austrian perspective. After presenting an insight into the international literature and the Austrian context, original empirical findings relevant to providing professional support for parents with learning difficulties are introduced.MethodAs part of a larger qualitative study, ten individual parents with learning difficulties (six mothers and four fathers) were interviewed to gain insight into their experience of motherhood and fatherhood. During the interviews, participants were asked to visualise their social networks through network maps that were then included into analyses. The current paper primarily engages with parents’ experience of professional practice based on a hermeneutic analysis of latent and manifest meanings.FindingsThe study results reinforce the relevance of social networks, including (a lack of) professional parenting support, and gendered parental self‐understandings in relation to barriers for parents with learning difficulties in Austria. Parents often experienced surveillance from child welfare professionals and referred to “being checked on” as well as receiving “the wrong support”. Only one study participant experienced the (flexible and self‐determined) support provided to her family as helpful. Mothers and fathers with learning difficulties face, at times, quite different challenges in the parenting role. The findings highlight a maternal self‐understanding as being primarily responsible for their child, while fathers often felt excluded from their child's life.ConclusionsSupport services need to acknowledge the relevance of gendered parenting roles and intersections of multidimensional disadvantages. The parenting support currently available to mothers and fathers with learning difficulties (if available at all) needs radical improvement and nationwide support structures need to be installed in collaboration with families.

Book Review: Re-Reading Economics in Literature: A Capitalist Critical Perspective

Literary critics often use economics to interpret the texts they consider, but often they have mistaken ideas about economics. They oppose the free market and are frequently Marxists. Spivey, an English professor at Arizona Christian University who specializes in American literature, asks, why not instead use correct economics instead? And by “correct” economics, he means Austrian economics. In _Re-Reading Economics in Literature_, Spivey discusses five books from an Austrian perspective.

Asset prices - An Austrian Perspective

Abstract: How asset prices should be taken into account in monetary policy is a controversial question in mainstream discussion. These mainstream positions can be differentiated into two broad perspectives: the proactive and the reactive views. The proactive view advocates pricking the asset price bubble, while the reactive view argues against monetary policy targeting asset prices. In this article the relation between asset prices and the Austrian business cycle theory is examined. Following this, a critique of both the proactive and reactive views is provided and implications for monetary policy are deduced.&#x0D; Key words: Austrian Economics, Business Cycles, Asset Prices, Central Banks and their Policies.&#x0D; JEL Classification: B53, E32, E58.

Challenges of a Digital Single Market from an Austrian perspective – towards Smart Regulations

Dieser Beitrag erlautert verschiedene rechtliche Herausforderungen der Digitalisierung des Binnenmarkts. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Frage, wo der bestehende Rechtsrahmen zur Bewaltigung dieser Herausforderungen ausreicht und wo neue Rechtsvorschriften erforderlich sind. Der dringendste Regelungsbedarf wird im Bereich der autonomen Entscheidungsfindung durch kunstliche Intelligenz ausgemacht. Auch wenn die EU (und zunehmend auch der osterreichische Staat) diesen Regelungsbedarf zunehmend erkennt, bleiben rechtliche Regelungen bisher die Ausnahmen. Zwar hat der Unionsgesetzgeber in der DSGVO bereits spezifische Regelungen betreffend den Einsatz von Algorithmen erlassen, ansonsten finden sich jedoch bislang kaum Regelungsansatze.Im Gegensatz dazu scheinen das Wettbewerbsrecht und das Produkthaftungsrecht bereits heute geeignet, den Herausforderungen der Digitalisierung zu begegnen. Das betrifft insbesondere das Produkthaftungsrecht, das durchaus geeignet erscheint, die spezifischen Herausforderung der Konvergenz von Hardware und Software in smarten Produkten zu bewaltigen. Dennoch ware es auf Grund von UNklarheiten uber ihre Anwendbarkeit auf unkorperliche Sachen ratsam, die bestehenden Produkthaftungsregelungen zu prazisieren - was auch die Meining der Europaischen Kommission ist.Zwei weitere Rechtsbereiche sind auf Grund der sich wandelnden Bedurfnisse einer digitalisierten Gesellschaft erst kurzlich Gegenstand europaischer Gesetzgebungsmasnahmen geworden: Zum einen der Postsektor, zum anderen das E-Government. In beiden Bereichen wurden erst kurzlich (teilweise) unmittelbar anwendbare Verordnungen der EU erlassen - ein merkbarer Gegensatz zum Bereich der selbstlernenden kunstlichen Intelligenz. Wahrend die Umsetzung der neuen Verordnung uber grenzuberschreitende Paketdienstleistungen jedoch keine groseren Probleme aufwerfen durfte, wird die Verwirklichung des Digital Single Gateway im E-Government beachtliche Herausforderungen rechtlicher und organisatorischer Natur fur nationale Verwaltungen mit sich bringen (insbesondere, wenn man den eher masigen Erfolg der Vorgangerregelungen zum Einheitlichen Ansprechpartner in der Dienstleistungsrichtlinie bedenkt).

The Chicago Plan Revisited: An Austrian critique

Within the context of the economic crisis since 2007 a space for fundamental reflection on the institutional structure of the finan-cial system has been opened, allowing for the introduction of sig-nificant reform proposals in the economic discourse. The IMF economists Jaromir Benes and Michael Kumhof published a work-ing paper in August 2012, reintroducing the Chicago Plan as such a proposal.2 Following up the work of Irving Fisher (1935)3 the au-thors propose the separation of the monetary and the credit func-tions of the banking system, by requiring 100% reserve backing for deposits. This plan is designed to eliminate the possibilities for private banks to create money through fractional reserve banking and is supposed to give governments the complete control over money issuance. The central bank, upgraded as a powerful mone-tary commission, is seen as the best candidate to serve as a state’s monetary authority in the exercise of its monetary prerogative (monopoly of currency, money issuance, and seigniorage).&#x0D; The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the ele-ments of this reform proposal, contrast it with a recapitulatory display of the Austrian analysis and evaluate the plan based on its political desirability.&#x0D; In the first step, the original plan from 1935 by Irving Fisher is presented. Second, the newest version and the key findings of Ben-es and Kumhof are summarized. Third the Austrian critique of fractional reserve banking and central banking is laid out. In the fourth step, a response to a peculiarity of the working paper about the origin of money is offered. In conclusion a brief discussion on the likelihood of political implementation and the evaluation from the Austrian perspective close the argumentation.

The effects of social spending on entrepreneurship in developed nations

Understanding how national policy can spur entrepreneurial activity is central to entrepreneurship research. Over the past decade, there has been a limited set of research findings to suggest that social spending may increase entrepreneurship in addition to serving more direct social purposes. We examine the topic through the lens of market failure theory and Austrian economics. In accordance with the Austrian perspective, we theorize that social spending increases the opportunity cost of entrepreneurship, thereby decreasing the attractiveness of entrepreneurship in comparison to salaried employment. Drawing from a sample of 31 developed countries spanning 2004–2011, we investigate the effects of social spending on entrepreneurial attitudes and activity. Our results indicate that country level social spending negatively affects entrepreneurial activity, business ownership, and the public’s view of entrepreneurship as a career choice. The findings suggest that social spending may be better suited for addressing social issues compared to spurring entrepreneurial attitudes or activity. Our findings have implications for both the entrepreneurship and national policy literature.

Developments in Drug Addiction During COVID-19-An Austrian Perspective Based on a Clinical Sample.

Concerns about the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with substance use disorder (SUD) were raised by experts in the field around the world. Here we provide an Austrian perspective, discussing the impact of the pandemic on help-seeking patient with drug use disorder during the initial stage of the pandemic. Our perspectives are based on the situation as perceived at our clinical facility, and supported by original data collected from a small clinical sample of patients with drug use disorder (N = 32). The viewpoints and related descriptive data include the perceived individual impact of COVID-19, as well as various aspects of drug use behavior and the Austrian drug market before and after the onset of the pandemic. The consequences for a subgroup of patients in opioid substitution treatment (N = 24) are discussed. Surprisingly and in contrast to anticipated developments, we had the impression of a rather stable situation in Austria, at least at this early stage of the pandemic. The immediate impact of COVID-19 on these help-seeking patients with high levels of drug dependency seemed less severe than anticipated so far. Importantly, this observation might be a short-term effect for this already fragile group and careful monitoring of further developments as well as preparation of long-term strategies are advised. In general, problematic drug use is associated with many health risk factors and finding appropriate long-term health care strategies has to remain a top priority facing the pandemic. Our perspectives are restricted to observations from help-seeking patients at our clinic, and no conclusions for the general population can be directly drawn.