Between Academia and Economic Policy: The Rise and Decline of Post-Keynesian Economics in Austria

This paper charts the rise and decline of post-Keynesian economics (PKE) in Austria. Keynesianism arrives in Austria via economic policy debates in social democratic circles where it is used to develop a policy strategy later known as Austro-Keynesianism. PKE gets a foothold at the Wirtschaftsforschungsinstitut (WIFO), Austria’s foremost applied economics research institute, and the Chamber of Labour, before establishing itself at the University of Linz. Over the course of the 1980s and 1990s the centre of gravity shifts from Linz to the Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (WU). During the same period, a lot of applied and policy-oriented research is carried out at WIFO, most of it in German. In the 2000s a blooming of heterodox economics occurs at WU, followed by a rapid dissolution of the heterodox community there. Since around 2010 mainstream economics has reasserted itself and PKE is no longer present at economics departments across Austria. Many of the current generation of post-Keynesian scholars either work abroad, in other disciplines, or in policy-oriented institutions. The main themes of Austrian PKE include income and wealth distribution, finance and financialisation, and ecological economics. In a comparative perspective, the intricate link between the post-Keynesian academic milieu and progressive economic policy is particularly interesting.