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The Centers for Austrian and Central European Studies, founded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science, and Research play an important role for the Austrian and international scientific community since the 1970s. Their tasks are to promote studies on Austrian and Central Europe in their host nations as well as to offer Austrian and Central European students the opportunity to conduct research abroad and to get in touch with the local scientific community. This anthology contains reports on the activities of the Centers in the Academic Year 2015/2016 and papers of their most promising PhD-students.

Financial markets in Europe become more and more integrated. The persisting fragmentation of financial supervision, however, constitutes a lasting obstacle to integration. The aim of this paper is to assess these costs of supervisory fragmentation. We find clear evidence for the existence of economies of scale in banking supervision. An increase in supervisory output by one percent causes institutional supervisory cost to rise by only some 0.5 percent. Based on these estimation results we predict institutional cost saving of around 15 percent in a plausible simulation scenario representing a cost-efficient European supervisory framework.

The aim of this paper is to present the types of fertility patterns that characterise European countries and their NUTS-1 units in the early 21st c. and in the near future. The types of fertility patterns were defined by ordering six five-year age groups of women aged from 15 to 44 years, according to the groups' fertility rates (from the highest to the lowest). The analysis resulted in the creation of 14 different types of fertility patterns. Countries located in the same European region tend to have the same or similar type of fertility pattern. In most European countries, the postponement transition can be observed, and it will probably continue in the future.
Differences between the fertility rates of the age groups were assessed within countries and between countries with the same type of fertility pattern by calculating the so-called fertility rate ratios. The paper also provides an overview of the main theories and concepts explaining the course of family formation processes in Europe and indicates factors that shape fertility patterns in European countries today.

The European Union has, as one of its core values, the central ideal of equality and a strong way to measure success in this goal is through the well-being of all citizens. As part of that well-being, one key aspect is health. Politicians will tell you that, if you ask any citizen, health and healthcare will be high on the agenda - and as we live longer that will become more the case, rather than less. In the area of health much progress is being made scientifically, with breakthroughs in, for example, the way we can diagnose and treat rare diseases. New technologies are developing swiftly and coming more-and-more to the fore, while the potential value of Big Data cannot be underestimated. It is incumbent upon all stakeholders in the realm of healthcare - and especially the policymakers and legislators - to ensure that every citizen of Europe has the same rights and access to the same high quality care as his neighbour.

<p>Using the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), this study investigated how health is associated with households' portfolio choices in 10 European countries. This study reports three important findings on the relationship between health and portfolio choices. First, households in poor health condition are less likely than households in good health to own various types of financial and non-financial assets. Second, households in poor health condition tend to allocate a lower share of their wealth to risky financial assets, savings for long-term investment, their principal residence, and other non-financial assets while they allocate a larger share to liquid assets such as bank deposits. Third, there exists a regional variation in the magnitude of the correlation between health and portfolio choices. This regional variation can be explained by differences in health care systems. Overall, these findings suggest that negative health shocks are significantly associated with a household's portfolio choices.</p>

Migrants to Europe often perceive themselves as entering a secular society that threatens their religious identities and practices. Whilst some sociological models present their responses in terms of cultural defence, ethnographic analysis reveals a more complex picture of interaction with local contexts. This essay draws upon ethnographic research to explore a relatively neglected situation in migration studies, namely the interactions between distinct migration cohorts - in this case, from the Caribbean island of Montserrat, as examined through their experiences in London Methodist churches. It employs the ideas of Weber and Bourdieu to view these migrants as 'religious carriers', as collective and individual embodiments of religious dispositions and of those socio-cultural processes through which their religion is reproduced. Whilst the strategies of the cohort migrating after the Second World War were restricted through their marginalised social status and experience of racism, the recent cohort of evacuees fleeing volcanic eruptions has had greater scope for strategies which combat secularisation and fading Methodist identity.

This article analyses the exercise of the right to housing in Europe in the light of European human rights standards. Special attention is given to the European Social Charter Article 31.1 which deals with the right to housing in general and overlaps with paragraph 2 on the prevention of homelessness and paragraph 3 on the affordability of housing costs. The European Convention of Human Rights also includes provisions on the right to housing, such as Article 3 (degrading treatment) and Article 8 (family), which overlap with provisions of the Charter. Together these provisions require States to guarantee citizens the right to receive temporary housing of dignity under all circumstances and access to standard housing without unreasonable delay. The last mentioned requires, in turn, that States have at their disposal a sufficient and sufficiently rotating stock of social rented housing, which is accessible to vulnerable persons and families. The article concludes that a multidimensional indicator is needed to assess the efficiency of the housing programs and measures to prevent and remove homelessness.

Abstract
This article analyzes the political responses of French and Italian business associations to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in the EU. I propose and test the empirical relevance of a multi‐level lobbying model for multi‐tiered systems, a model assumed by, but never systematically examined in, the pluralism literature. Data for this ten‐sector cross‐national panel study come from personal interviews with the presidents of French and Italian business associations. The interviews were held at the beginning and the end of the euro implementation process. The research shows that organized groups routinely overstep their territorial jurisdictions to lobby across multiple levels of government in multi‐level Europe. The degree of state political decentralization is a statistically significant variable in explaining the choice of lobbying target. This 'crucial comparative case study' finds that, in adjusting to deeper economic integration, regional associations in France focus their energy on the central government, while Italian groups favour the regional government.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Market transitions are thought to inevitably produce spiraling inequality on the road to economic growth. This review provides an overview of research evaluating inequality in income and wages in Central and Eastern Europe since 1989. The empirical studies agree that inequality has increased, but disagree about the amount, pace, source, and explanation of change. Patterns of inequality are unrelated to economic performance, to the pace or timing of reform, or to rates of subsequent growth. Inequality increased the most in the least successful countries and the least in those countries with historic cultural connections to the West. Inequalities by age, education, region of the country, and health status increased; differences by gender appear to have declined. Although data are plentiful and promising, it is not yet possible to conclude that patterns of inequality among postcommunist countries are due to the genesis of capitalism, to social and cultural assimilation to the West, to adaptations of redistributive institutions to deal with poverty and unemployment, or to globalization.

Examines features of "The new campaign politics" to determine to what extent they are characteristic of electoral campaigns in Greece, Italy, Portugal, & Spain. The old campaign politics are defined by looking at changes in the actors, arenas, issues, & resources that occurred with the emergence of democracies in Greece, Portugal, & Spain, & the evolution of campaign politics in Italy's continuous democracy. Exploration of the new campaign politics focuses on the unique institutional frameworks & structures of opportunities available to political actors, as well as the impact on electoral campaigns of nonpolitical networks, professional organizations, informal groups, & well-known political outsiders, such as the TV mogul who entered politics when old parties were collapsing & was elected prime minister in spite of his lack of government experience. It is concluded that the new campaign politics in southern Europe stems from the joint impact of pervasive TV communication that has personalized politics, & the relative weakness of party organizations. In addition, the transition to consolidated democracies has almost eliminated class differences. 4 Tables. J. Lindroth

The author looks into the concept of the "small nation" & whether it is high time for its scientific or linguistic revision. If "small nations" are a qualitative category, why define them quantitatively as "small"? Small nations gained independence in two waves: between the German-French war (1870-1871) & the end of WWI, & after the end of the Cold War in 1990. However, not all small nations gained independence (eg, Basques, Catalonians, Bretons). They pose a major challenge for Western Europe. The example of Croatia & its relationship with Serbs serves to illustrate the vacillations in the European ideology & attitudes toward small nations. The pressures exerted on the Croatian state regarding the political attitudes of the Croatian people toward small nations did not stem from the logic of globalist economism or neoliberal political doctrine but were the consequence of the war waged by the mother country of the Croatian Serbs (Serbia) with the aim of annexing the territories in which they were a majority population. 9 References. Adapted from the source document.

The author looks into the concept of the "smal1 nation" and whether it is high time for its scientific or linguistic revision. If "small nations" are a qualitative category, why define them quantitatively as "small"? Small nations gained independence in two waves: between the German-French war (1870-1871) and the end of World War One, and after the close of the "cold war" in 1990. However, not all small nations gained independence (e.g. Basques, Catalonians, Bretons, etc.). They pose a major challenge for Western Europe. The example of Croatia and its relationship with Serbs serves to illustrate the vacillations in the European ideology and attitudes towards small nations. The pressures exerted on the Croatian state regarding the political attitude of the Croatian people towards small nations did not stem from the logic of globalist economism or neoliberal political doctrine but were the.consequence of the war which the mother country Serbia of the Serbs in Croatia waged with the aim of annexing the territories on which they were a majority population. (SOI : PM: S. 98)