According to the latest WIFO Flash Estimate, Austria's economic output expanded by 4.3 percent in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter. This was the first-time growth resumed after the two negative previous quarters.

The economic slump triggered by the COVID-19 crisis hit the Austrian provinces to varying degrees. This is mainly due to the extent to which individual sectors were affected by the crisis, as well as to differences in the regional economic structure.

A recently published ex-post analysis by WIFO economists Serguei Kaniovski, Atanas Pekanov and Thomas Url of the impact of government aid measures under the COVID-19 legislation allows conclusions on their effectiveness in bridging potential liquidity shortages due to falling sales.

"Due to the absence of tourist inflows, the Tokyo Olympics are expected to have a considerably lower positive impact on the host region's economy," explained WIFO regional economist Matthias Firgo. In a paper recently published in the renowned journal "Regional Science and Urban Economics" Firgo investigated which causal effects Summer and Winter Olympics since the 1990s have had on the level of prosperity (GDP per capita) of the host regions on average.