Small Firms as a Blind Spot in Greek Austerity Economics

This paper offers an interpretation of the Greek crisis focusing on the role of small firms. Most accounts of the crisis stress austerity resulting from macroeconomic conditions imposed from the outside. The paper argues that this is reductionist and ignores that the origin of the crisis lies in internal structural problems. Weaknesses in the productive structure explain why the Greek economy has not been able to recover. A key – but widely overlooked – feature of this productive structure is the preponderance of the small firms. Unpacking this small firm economy helps to understand the origin and persistence of the crisis and to see new ways forward. Analysing the Greek economy through this lens, we can offer an explanation spanning the entire period from the 1960s – the transformation of Greece from an emerging economy to EU member and ultimately to the EZ problem child. Far from being an obstacle to growth, dynamic small firms in the past showed resilience and withstood major shocks – entry into the EU, globalisation and EZ membership. The distinguishing feature of the present crisis – and the reason why exit is proving so difficult – is that small firms have been hit harder and have yet to recover. Moreover, misdiagnosing the crisis in exclusively macro terms, may make small firms’ situation worse. The paper attempts to fill the blind spot by proposing a scheme with two types of small firms – one dynamic and outward looking – aiming to compete – and another defensive and inward faced – looking to the state for protection. The latter were key players in clientelistic political economy, while propping them up imposed burdens on dynamic firms and required persistent borrowing. Dynamic firms were further burdened by a version of the ‘Dutch disease’ – the impact of capital inflows in marginalising efficient producers – providing a bridge between micro and macro considerations. Recovery in Greece without dynamic small firms is only possible in the presence of an external Deus Ex Machina – in the form of foreign investment, debt relief or both. Reading the crisis as a crisis of production and not exclusively one of public finance is a first step towards setting a viable exit strategy. Ending austerity may be a necessary, but certainly not a sufficient condition. Industrial policy towards small enterprise has a crucial role

can we call it a revolution women the labour market and european policy

In the USA the change in women's role in the economy over the last quarter-century has been likened to 'a quiet revolution'. Can we also talk of a quiet 'revolution' in Europe? The present article addresses this question by reviewing key developments in women's labour market position at EU level over the last 20 years. Full integration of women in the labour market was a focal point of European Employment Strategy, based on the understanding that it is an essential ingredient of gender equality; but it recently lost priority in favour of human rights and anti-discrimination goals. Policy responses to the financial crisis accelerated this change in priorities together with the perception that men are the real losers of the crisis. However, a stock-taking of women's integration into the labour market at EU level shows that two large obstacles stand in the way of full integration: regional imbalances and the secondary earner question. Female employment recently outperformed male employment, but fiscal consolidation policies currently hinder advancement in countries like the so-called GIPSI group, where progress is needed most. Meanwhile differences with respect to men in pension income or total earnings remain high at around forty percent. Reconciliation policy at EU level – leave design and care service provisioning in particular – had not consistently helped rebalance the gender division of labour within households. It needs recasting for a truly revolutionary change in women's role in the economy to materialize

Gender roles and employment pathways of older women and men in England

In the context of population ageing, the UK government is encouraging people to work longer and delay retirement and it is claimed that many people now make ‘gradual’ transitions from full-time to part-time work to retirement. Part-time employment in older age may, however, be largely due to women working part-time before older age, as per a UK ‘modified male breadwinner’ model. This article therefore separately examines the extent to which men and women make transitions into part-time work in older age, and whether such transitions are influenced by marital status. Following older men and women over a ten-year period using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, this article presents sequence, cluster, and multinomial logistic regression analyses. Little evidence is found for people moving into part-time work in older age. Typically, women did not work at all or they worked part-time (with some remaining in part-time work and some retiring/exiting from this activity). Consistent with a ‘modified male breadwinner’ logic, marriage was positively related to the likelihood of women belonging to typically ‘female employment pathway clusters’, which mostly consist of part-time work or not being employed. Men were mostly working full-time regardless of marital status. Attempts to extend working lives among older women are therefore likely to be complicated by the influence of traditional gender roles on employment

Defamilisation/familisation measures and pensions in Hong Kong and Taiwan

This article discusses the link between familisation measures (to lower the negative consequences of participating in the family as a care-provider) and defamilisation measures (to reduce individual responsibility for providing care in the family), and pensions for women. To enhance women’s chance of having a secure retirement life, it makes two suggestions: government should provide defamilisation measures to assist women to accumulate pension income through work-based pension measures; and government should provide familisation measures extensively as an alternative to these measures. It also demonstrates how the case examples of Hong Kong and Taiwan provide support to these two suggestions

The Bulgarian Pension System and Reform: A perspective from Greece"

No description supplie

Consumption and poverty in Tanzania in 1976 and 1991: A comparison using survey data

The paper tests the hypothesis that given the significant decline of the Tanzanian economy in the early 1980s and the mediocre performance in the post-1986 adjustment period, household real incomes should be lower and the level of poverty should be higher in the early 1990s compared to the precrisis boom period of the mid-1970s. The analysis is done by comparing real household expenditures from two national surveys, in 1976 and 1991. The results suggest that real per capita expenditures in both rural and urban areas are higher in 1991 compared to 1976. Furthermore, the level of poverty in both rural and urban areas is lower in 1991. The results, which refute the stated hypothesis, are tested under alternative assumptions and are found robust. © 1995

Housing demand and taxation in Greece An econometric analysis of the 1974 Household Expenditure Survey

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Lending Division - LD:D58364/85 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Efficiency and productivity assessment of public hospitals in Greece during the crisis period 2009-2012

Background: This study is an initial effort to examine the dynamics of efficiency and productivity in Greek public hospitals during the first phase of the crisis 2009-2012. Data were collected by the Ministry of Health after several quality controls ensuring comparability and validity of hospital inputs and outputs. Productivity is estimated using the Malmquist Indicator, decomposing the estimated values into efficiency and technological change. Methods: Hospital efficiency and productivity growth are calculated by bootstrapping the non-parametric Malmquist analysis. The advantage of this method is the estimation efficiency and productivity through the corresponding confidence intervals. Additionally, a Random-effects Tobit model is explored to investigate the impact of contextual factors on the magnitude of efficiency. Results: Findings reveal substantial variations in hospital productivity over the period from 2009 to 2012. The economic crisis of 2009 had a negative impact in productivity. The average Malmquist Productivity Indicator (MPI) score is 0.72 with unity signifying stable production. Approximately 91% of the hospitals score lower than unity. Substantial increase is observed between 2010 and 2011, as indicated by the average MPI score which fluctuates to 1.52. Moreover, technology change scored more than unity in more than 75% of hospitals. The last period (2011-2012) has shown stabilization in the expansionary process of productivity. The main factors contributing to overall productivity gains are increases in occupancy rates, type and size of the hospital. Conclusions: This paper attempts to offer insights in efficiency and productivity growth for public hospitals in Greece. The results suggest that the average hospital experienced substantial productivity growth between 2009 and 2012 as indicated by variations in MPI. Almost all of the productivity increase was due to technology change which could be explained by the concurrent managerial and financing healthcare reforms. Hospitals operating under decreasing returns to scale could achieve higher efficiency rates by reducing their capacity. However, certain social objectives should also be considered. Emphasis perhaps should be placed in utilizing and advancing managerial and organizational reforms, so that the benefits of technological improvements will have a continuing positive impact in the future. © 2017 The Author(s)