Regional Specialization of Greek Prefectures for the Time Period 1981-2001

Intense regional inequalities are considered to be widespread in Greece. Indeed, Athens mainly, and Thessaloniki consist the two poles in Greece, Thessaloniki in a lower degree though. In these two cities the larger part of industrial activity, as well as, tertiary sector activities, is assembled. On the contrary, in the other Greek regions not only the economic activities but also the infrastructures have been developed in smaller degree. Moreover, as it is well known, two Greek regions (Northern Aegean, Epirus) are among the poorest in the European Union. This fact constitutes a reluctant factor to the effort of Greece to increase the standard of living of the citizens. In addition, the last two decades, a significant decrease of the contribution of primary sector to the GDP with simultaneous increase of the contribution of the tertiary sector is observed. The particular change involves significant repercussions to the national economy. The aim of this paper is the study of the specialization of Greek prefectures as well as spatial distribution of 13 sectors of economic activity using employment data and methods of regional analysis such as Gini – Hirschman coefficient, Location Quotient Coefficient (LQ), Coefficient of Location (CL), Coefficient of Specialization (CS) and analysis of variation – participation.

Prelimenary results on a comparative study evaluating landraces of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in organic agriculture in a protected area (Northern Greece)

Organic farming requires cultivars or landraces that are specifically adapted to this low input cropping system. Six landraces of Greek common dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and one from the neighbouring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) were evaluated for different agronomic and physicochemical characteristics under organic conditions in the National Park of the lake Prespes, on the borders of Greece, FYROM and Albania. Significant differences among landraces were found in yield characteristics such as yield plant-1, pod plant-1 and seeds pod-1 with two of the landraces performing the best. The cooking time was estimated by measuring seed hardness using a penetrometer. There was a considerable variation between the landraces tested with cooking times between 25-45 minutes. Some of the landraces could be a useful resource for the development of organic farming systems in this protected area

The Importance of Women Farmers for the Development of the Province of Kastoria

According to the 1999-2000 Agricultural Census, while in the entire country 25% of all farm owners were women, in 14 provinces, that is in 27% of all the provinces, the percent of women was 30-51% of all farmers/owners. In the province of Kastoria, the increase in the percent of women farm owners was almost fourfold, from 8.4% in 1987 to 31.3% in 2000. A recent study of these women farm owners showed that the large majority of these women (81%)are not only smallholders but owners of large farms (even with more than 7.5 hectares), cultivate intensive crops and tobacco, are actively involved in farm management and are members of agricultural cooperatives. It is not possible for rural development planning to ignore these women farmers. The increasing feminization of agriculture in this province, and probably as well in other provinces and regions, indicates an endogenous development that needs to be built upon by further development actions in order to improve their competitiveness.

Duality theory and cost function analysis in a regional context: the impact of public infrastructure capital in the Greek Regions

There has been a significant resurgence of interest in the effects of public capital on the economic fortunes of the private sector of late. This renewed concern was sparked by the research of Aschauer on US infrastructure and the ensuing debate between himself, Munnell and Holtz-Eakin. This debate and much of the subsequent work in the US and elsewhere has been conducted utilising production functions. There is, however, another potentially more rewarding strand in the infrastructure literature that is based on duality theory and cost function analysis. This approach has been thought of as overcoming some of the methodological problems inherent in the use of production functions in this research context. This paper, using cost functions, attempts to estimate the impact of the productive categories of the Public Investment Programme of Greece on regional development, and especially on large scale manufacturing activities. The results demonstrate that public capital has a significant positive impact on the performance of the private sector, and reduces private costs of production. Also considered here are the links between infrastructure provision and private sector input factors of production.

Kufic ornamental motifs in the wall paintings of six churches in Southern Italy

The churches we are concerned with here are in South eastern Italy where, more than in other parts of Southern Italy (with the exception of Calabria),the Byzantine presence and Byzantine influence were obviously strong. Islam arrived on the Apulian coast from the 11th to 13th century was often mediated by Byzantium: this is verifiable in techniques, iconographies and styles. One case in particular concerns the epigraphic characters of Islamic derivation which abound in many media and, specifically, in architectural decoration: in other words, stone, stucco, mosaic, painting and so on. But, if the Byzantine mediation is evident, it is very important to observe that the labour is always local. We will look at six churches. They do not constitute a «catalogue», but offer a good «sample» of pseudo-kufic of the 13th century. First of all, I wish to present the map of the six churches with frescoes. Four of them are in Apulia: Gravina (province of Bari), Massafra (province of Taranto), Squinzano (on the road between Lecce and Brindisi) and Otranto (both provinces of Lecce). The other two are in the present day Lucania (or Basilicata): Matera and the former town of Anglona, near Tursi (province of Matera). Furthermore, I wish to specify that three of them (those in Massafra, Gravina and Matera) are rock churches, small chapels hewn out of the rock, without doors

Political Violence in a Borderland. The Region of Kastoria under Italian Occupation (1941-1943)

The article investigates the history of the small province of Kastoria, Western Macedonia, during the Italian occupation between 1941 and 1943. The province of Kastoria was inhabited by an ethnically mixed population comprising Greeks, Vlachs and Slavophones. During the occupation the Italian authorities promoted the formation of militias of Slavophones to help quell the resistance. In order to explain the formation of these collaborationist units, the articles first explores the history of the region in the 1920ies and 1930ies. Then it focuses on the occupation years until the Slavophone militias were formed in 1943. It concludes that interethnic violence was neither the necessary outcome of preceding etnic cleavages, nor the result of the Italian policy of divide et impera. Interethnic strifes derived rather from socio-economic dynamics that led to the reemergence of preexisting patters of ethnicization of conflis over ressources