Stavros Zografakis

Native-immigrant wage differentials and occupational segregation in the Greek labour market

This article explores native–immigrant wage differentials in the Greek labour market. Data from the most recent Greek Household Budget Survey (2004–05) were employed, four alternative occupational categories were considered and occupational choice was explicitly modelled. Controlling for occupational selectivity, occupation-specific wage regressions for representative samples of employed native and immigrant workers were estimated and an augmented decomposition technique was utilized to analyse inter and intra occupation wage differentials. The obtained results demonstrate that roughly 48% of the average wage differential cannot be explained by differences in observed characteristics and that the larger component of this unexplained part is due to asymmetrical occupational access by native and immigrant workers.

Greece: Military Expenditure, Economic Growth, and the Opportunity Cost of Defense

Assessing the impact of military expenditure on economic performance is an area that has been growing fast following Benoit’s seminal contribution. It provided a strong impetus for research, both theoretical and applied, on the subject for the past quarter century or so. But no consensus appears to exist as to the nature and extent of the economic effects of defense spending (Dunne, 1996; Ram, 1995; Fontanel, 1990; Gleditsch et al, 1996).

The Effects of Defence Spending Reductions: A CGE Estimation of the Foregone Peace Dividend in the Case of Greece

With the collapse of bipolarity and the end of the East-West armaments race, defence budgets have shrunk and military expenditures across many countries have fallen, opening-up the prospect of potential beneficial economic spin-offs. In the case of Greece, a country with a higher than average defence burden, military spending has not exhibited similar downward trends as it has done in other members of NATO and the European Union. The paper, using a Computable General Equilibrium model, estimates through simulations the effects on the Greek economy had reductions in current defence spending been equal to the NATO average. The results from the CGE estimations suggest that a shift of expenditure from defence into non-defence public spending would have an appreciable beneficial impact.

Tracing the Consequences of Economic Crisis in Rural Areas – Evidence from Greece

Rural areas play a vital role in the European Union (EU), as they cover more than 90 percent of the European territory, and host about half of its population and economic activity. Diversity is the main characteristic of rural areas, with both decline and dynamism present. Notwithstanding their diversity, rural areas in the EU share some common characteristics and evolution patterns. There are no significant differences between rural and urban areas, in terms of the age structure of the population, as well as employment/unemployment rates. The income per inhabitant in rural areas is 25-30% lower, coupled with a different social structure. Besides, the economic importance of agriculture in rural areas is declining, while the services sector is continually gaining momentum.