Modeling the Technological Change and Innovation Activities for Estimation of Productivity Growth

Technological change and innovation activities contribute essentially to the regional dimension and productivity growth. The technological infrastructure and innovation capabilities affect not only the regional growth, but also the whole periphery and economy as well. In the last decades, OECD /introduced some measures and indexes, concerning the Research and Development Expenditures, patents etc., that measuring the innovation activities. However, there are a lot of problems and questions regarding the measurement of innovation activities at a regional level. This paper attempts to analyze the whole framework of innovation and technological activities and in particular to examine the methodological approaches, the appropriate measurement and also the statistical indices for estimation of productivity growth. On this context, it’s also aiming to emphasize and to review the appropriate techniques, the most common methods and to analyze the particular methodological and statistical problems.

Social Economy for Local Governance Structures: Monitoring and Evaluation Perspectives.

Social economy , the ground between free market private benefit institutions , the State regulation and society , needs to be positively identified. The existing , traditional , monitoring and evaluation concepts , methods and tools are prooven to ineffectively identify and describe the social conjunctions , adherent to the social mediation of the economic sphere. Coherent , scientifically valid , approaches need to be formulated. Up to date methods and tools , capable of reaching and describing the social economy phenomenon , emerge as a useful contribution , as long as they refrain from the traditional economistic and administrative context. The creation of a positive , new grammar for the identification of social economy forms the core of our interest. Local governance structures tend to lean upon such trends as they require partnership organizations to meet successfully local priorities essential to combat exclusion, poverty, acculturation, community growth and employability. Recent trends in the evaluation of this strategic field will be provided.

A note on poverty, inequality and growth

How inequality is generated and how it reproduces over time? This has been a major concern of social scientists for more than a century. The changes in aggregate or average income is a good measure for economic growth but is far from being the only one. There is an increasing “inequality” throughout the world. Over the period 1960-2000, the richest 5 % of the world’s nations averaged a per-capita income that was about twenty-nine times the corresponding figure for the poorest 5 %. Poverty also affects other forms of economic and social functioning. The measurement of poverty is based on the notion of poverty line, which is constructed from monetary estimates of minimum needs. Poverty is highly correlated with the lack of education, and there is an intimate connection between nutrition and poverty. The measurement of inequality is a highly controversial one. It is a field in which there are large differences in social judgments, which translate themselves into differences in social judgments, such as the measure of inequality or the choice of equivalence scale. Social and Economic indicators demonstrate the data for the population based measures on economic, social and health outcomes and answer the question about inequality and well being. This article attempts to examine the relationship between inequality and the process of socio-economic development and also to overview the theories of income inequality and to measure the income distribution and moreover to investigate the role and the effects on socio-economic growth. Keywords: Income distribution, inequality, poverty, convergence, growth.

Enterpreneurship and innovation activites in the schumpeterian lines

The importance of diffusion of technology for economic growth has been emphasised by economic literature. Much of the recent work on economic growth can be viewed as refining the basic economic insights of classical economists. The recent debate on the determinants of output growth has concentrated mainly on the role of knowledge, typically produced by a specific sector of the economy, and furthermore in the role of entrepreneurship and the implications on economic growth. This paper attempts to examine the role of entrepreneurship, and those of innovation activities (technical change, research and development and diffusion of technology) and the effects of output growth, according to the Schumpeterian lines. Following on the Schumpeterian tradition, this paper starts from the recognition that there are two main patterns of innovations: the first one is the creative destruction pattern and the second one is a creative accumulation pattern. Also, it emphasizes the role of entrepreneurship and the impact of the diffusion of technology in the inter-country and international economic contexts using some of the empirical implementation of epidemic, probit analysis and moreover from technological substitution models. Key Words: Entrepreneurship, Innovation Activities, Diffusion, Modernization, Competitiveness, Schumperer.

Peripheral Regions in Duress: Counter-Social Capital Impediments of Local Development in Rural Greek Areas

Unlike most enthusiastic narratives of various success stories in recent North European regional economic development led by innovation, localized learning, social capital and institutional embeddedness, this paper deals with a set of major stresses and problems of local economic development in peripheral, less favoured, regions. By drawing upon concrete research experience of regional development projects we try to shed light upon the processes of spatio-economic change and the management of local production in connection with prevailing cultural attitudes/values in less developed Greek rural areas. attidudes/values constituting a kind of localized “counter-social capital†deposit that impedes any likely innovative local development initiatives. The paper argues that the major problems facing these areas are not only or solely associated with the effects of market economy restructuring and the operation of macroeconomic and macropolitical forces at the regional and local level, but, also with inadequate management of human skills, lack of productive mentality and negative cultural values and attitudes. The policy relevance of our analysis calls for the elaboration of alternative development strategies aimed rather at enchancing local social capital potentialities than at improving hard infrastructures and providing financial incentives to local firms.

Barriers to participation in the social economy in Greece

The current crisis in Greece, an EU member for over 30 years, has brought to the surface the character of the Greek politico-administrative system as it handles employment, migration and associated forms of social protection. Similarly, recent attempts at legislative reforms of the operation of social economy enterprises have yet to be implemented, while the current legislation governing them, i.e. as Foundations, dates back to ...1939. The difficulties in recognising and regulating the social economy sector seem to emanate from the organisation of the overall employment security system in place. The employment relationship seems to be embedded within a bifurcated system of labour whereby the employment relationship is secure only in the public sector while the private sector is controlled by a precarious system of labour security, a separate health system and with its own political organisation. The lack of a unified national labour system does not allow the formation of a national system of employment (qualifications) and, hence, a way to overcome nepotism and the political (party) patronage system which defines, in a determining way, labour relations. This division is maintained by the politico-administrative labour regime put in place, under the extra-ordinary political situation that emerged after World War II (WWII). The paper explores this hidden reality defining the organisation of the employment system in Greece, its politico-administrative controls that seem to aim at ‘arresting’ the emergence of a social economy. This leads to a hidden social economy of a fragmented private labour market, which is regulated separately from the secure “public” employment sector. This rather anachronistic and discriminatory system of political order of labour divides workers in Greece.La actual crisis en Grecia, miembro de la UE desde hace más de 30 años, ha revelado el verdadero carácter del sistema político-administrativo griego, de la forma en la que gestiona el empleo, la migración y la protección social. Del mismo modo, los recientes intentos de reformas legislativas en relación a empresas de economía social todavía no se han implementado, mientras que la legislación vigente sobre este tipo de instituciones (por ejemplo, Fundaciones), se remonta a... 1939. Las dificultades en el reconocimiento y la regulación del sector de la economía social parecen surgir de la organización general del sistema de seguridad en el empleo. Las relaciones laborales están enmarcadas en un sistema de trabajo bifurcado, en el que la seguridad laboral sólo existe en el sector público, mientras que en el sector privado predomina la precariedad, tiene un sistema de salud diferenciado, y su propia organización política. La falta de un sistema nacional unificado de trabajo no permite la formación de un sistema nacional de empleo (titulaciones) ni, por tanto, superar el nepotismo y la influencia política (el partido) que define, de una manera determinante, las relaciones laborales. Esta división político-administrativa surgió a raíz de la situación política extraordinaria que se dio tras la 2ª Guerra Mundial, y se mantiene hasta la actualidad. El ensayo analiza esa realidad oculta, definiendo la organización del sistema laboral griego, sus controles político-administrativos, aparentemente destinados a 'detener' el surgimiento de una economía social. Esto ha dado lugar a una economía social sumergida, dentro de un mercado laboral privado fragmentado, regulado de forma diferente al sector de empleo “público”. Este sistema, anacrónico y discriminatorio, divide a los trabajadores en Grecia

Economic Geography and Regional Growth: An Empirical Evidence From Greece

There is a huge literature regarding the main determinants and sources of economic growth. Most of the recent work emphasizes on the role of knowledge, and innovation activities typically produced by a specific sector of the economy, and furthermore in the role of entrepreneurship and analysing the implications and the importance for economic growth. Moreover, the socio-economic and public policies aimi to distinguish the determining factors of growth, in order to enhance the regional cohesion and the convergence process. Much of the recent work on regional growth can be viewed as refining the basic economic insights of economic geography. There are two principal theories of why growth rates are differ, the first is the theory of comparative advantage and the second is the theory of increasing returns to scale. This paper attempts to examine the main sources of regional growth through an inter-and intra sectoral analysis. In particular, the paper attempts to investigate through an empirical inter-comparison study using statistical-data from several Greek regions, the determinant sectoral factors and the implications to growth process. We also employ the empirical non-parametric analysis. We find support for the existence of economic geography effects in several manufacturing sectors and moreover we find that these effects are economically very significant.

Interorganizational Cooperation and Social Capital Formation among Social Enterprises and Social Economy Organizations: A Case Study from the Region of Attica, Greece

Measuring social capital has been a challenging task over the past few decades, and, still, many of its dimensions and manifestations have not been thoroughly or evidently explored. The possible causes may be the ever-changing evolutionary perspectives that take place within the various levels of analysis—micro, meso, and macro—or within the various settings, where some of its core dimensions—bonding, bridging, and linking—are developed, or even among the contexts where its core determinants and features—trust, norms, connections, ties, etc.—are observed. Having in mind the various streams of research and theoretical discourses on social capital formation, this paper aims to surface the identification of the possible evidence on the formation of social capital among social economy organizations, and particularly among social enterprises. In doing so, it aims to explore the relational and cognitive features that drive social enterprises in their interorganizational cooperation with other social enterprises and third-sector organizations. The findings suggest that the central components of social capital, such as the sharing of common values, trust, reciprocity, and trustworthiness, are among those features that were valued most among the participants in the survey during their cooperation and engagement in common activities with other organizations

Innovation Geography and Regional Growth in European Union

There is a huge literature regarding the main determinants and sources of economic growth. Most of the recent work emphasizes on the role of knowledge and innovation activities typically produced by a specific sector of the economy, and on analyzing the implications and the importance for economic growth. Moreover, the socioeconomic and public policies aim to distinguish the determining factors of growth to enhance the regional cohesion and the convergence process. Much of the recent work on regional growth can be viewed as refining the basic economic insights of economic geography. This article attempts to analyze the European systems of innovation and the effects of European technological policy to regional growth