| Zusammenfassung: | The "Single Market", the core element of European integration, commemorates its 20th anniversary this year. Since its accession to the EU in 1995, Austria has taken part in all steps of deeper integration. Not only from a political perspective has Austria become more modern and European through EU membership, it has also benefited economically at each stage of integration: opening-up of Eastern Europe (additional GDP growth of 0.2 percentage point per year), EU membership (participation in the EU Single Market +0.6 percentage point), participation in EMU (+0.4 percentage point) and EU enlargement (+0.4 percentage point). Overall, the integration effects from participation in all stages have boosted Austria's GDP growth by between ½ and 1 percentage point per year, as derived from model simulations. The plausibility of these results is confirmed by a comparison of Austria's economic performance with that of other EU or third countries. Thus Austria's growth advantage vis-à-vis Germany and Switzerland corresponds to the calculated integration effects. This "growth dividend" is difficult to explain, if at all, when abstracting from the integration effects of Austria's participation in all EU policy moves.
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