An economic assessment of flood protection investments of BMVIT

The Federal Ministry of Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) is in charge of providing flood protection along the rivers Danube and March. During the last five years it spent annually between 43 and 75 Mio. € for this purpose. Overall expenditures are higher because beneficiaries of such measures contribute to financing flood protection measures. The money is spent for construction, planning and other activities that are necessary to guarantee protection of floods that is considering ecological requirements. The analysis uses an input output model of the Austrian economy to assess the economic consequences of the investment flows observed in the past. The analysis is complemented by findings in the literature on the effectiveness of the investments.