Software und Arbeitsmarkt 2006
(Implications of Different Types of Software on the Austrian Labor Market)

In Kooperation mit:
Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Universität Klagenfurt

In cooperation with:
Department of Economics, Klagenfurt University, Austria

Abstract:

The economic and political discussions throughout Europe concerning the strategies of the national public sectors towards different types of software are still lacking empirical evidence of the economic implications of different types of software. Several aspects of the economic processes starting from software development to application effects have to be taken into account. This paper aims at providing empirically valid estimates for the Austrian economy, based upon available empirical data and theoretically founded and empirically proven models of the Austrian economy. The general economic impact of proprietary software has been identified as similar to that of open source software (OSS). Static employment effects are slightly higher for OSS, while static value added effects are higher for proprietary software. If application effects (productivity) and the survival rates of the respective OSS vs. non-OSS companies are taken into account, the proprietary software model performs a little better than the OSS market model, both in terms of employment and value added. When taking also into account the knowledge effects associated with the application of software, (standardized) non-OSS gives clearly better results both in terms of employment and value added effects.

This is an independet scientific research project

Kontakt/Contact:

Univ.-Ass. MMag. Dr. Gottfried Haber
Assistant Professor
Department of Economics, University of Klagenfurt, Austria
gottfried.haber@uni-klu.ac.at