10 research outputs found

    Analyzing and comparing the impact of alternative concepts of resources in distributional studies: Greece, 2004/5

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    The usual practice in empirical distributional studies is to use either disposable income or consumption expenditure as a proxy for welfare. Essentially, both variables are used as approximations of the unobserved “permanent income” of the population members. This paper exploits the information in the Greek Household Budget Survey of 2004/5 and constructs an indicator of “permanent income” using a latent variable approach. The distributions of disposable income, consumption expenditure and permanent income are compared regarding their level and structure of inequality and poverty. Both inequality and poverty appear to be substantially lower using the distribution of permanent income instead of either the distribution of disposable income or the distribution of consumption expenditure, while differences are also evident when decomposition analysis of inequality and poverty is employed using appropriate indices.permanent income, inequality, poverty, welfare level

    The determinants of Greek household indebtedness and financial stress

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    The paper uses data from the household survey conducted by the Bank of Greece in 2007 and investigates how various socioeconomic characteristics of households, such as income and wealth, household size, the age, education level and tenure of employment of the household head, are related with the probability of having a loan, the distribution of the financial stress as is measured by the debt service cost to income ratio, and also with the proper or not servicing of their loans. Most of the characteristics examined were found to be associated with the household’s probability of having a loan. Financial stress tends to decline as household income and net wealth increase, while certain household characteristics were also found to affect households’ capacity to service properly their debt obligations.household indebtedness; debt service

    Social Indicators and the Effectiveness of Social Transfers in Greece over the Recent Crisis

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    Στην εργασία αυτή παρουσιάζονται και αναλύονται βασικοί δείκτες σχετικοί με τη φτώχεια, την οικονομική ανισότητα και τον κοινωνικό αποκλεισμό στην Ελλάδα και την ευρωζώνη κατά την περίοδο της οικονομικής κρίσης 2009-2014. Τα διαθέσιμα στοιχεία δείχνουν ότι τα έξι έτη οικονομικής ύφεσης και λιτότητας στην Ελλάδα είχαν σημαντικές αρνητικές επιπτώσεις στα ποσοστά φτώχειας και κοινωνικού αποκλεισμού, τα οποία ανήλθαν σε ιστορικά πρωτοφανή και κοινωνικά μη αποδεκτά υψηλά επίπεδα. Τα στοιχεία και οι αναλύσεις της εργασίας καταδεικνύουν ότι το Κοινωνικό Κράτος, του οποίου μια από τις κύριες αποστολές είναι η αναδιανομή του εισοδήματος μέσω των κοινωνικών παροχών, είναι το λιγότερο αποτελεσματικό μεταξύ των χωρών της ευρωζώνης στη μείωση της φτώχειας και της εισοδηματικής ανισότητας. Η Ελλάδα κατατάσσεται τελευταία στην ευρωζώνη ως προς την εμπιστοσύνη στην κυβέρνηση, την ελευθερία επιλογών, την αντίληψη διαφθοράς στον δημόσιο τομέα και την υποκειμενική ευτυχία. Είναι, ακόμα, στις τελευταίες θέσεις ως προς την εμπιστοσύνη στους άλλους και την κοινωνική στήριξη. Θεωρούμε ότι η διάβρωση του κοινωνικού ιστού και η αρνητική αντίληψη του κλίματος εμπιστοσύνης στην Ελλάδα είναι δύο παράγοντες που συνέβαλαν σε μεγάλο βαθμό ώστε η Ελλάδα να καταγράψει τις μεγαλύτερες απώλειες στα επίπεδα υποκειμενικής ευτυχίας από την περίοδο 2005-2007 στην περίοδο 2012-2014 μεταξύ 125 χωρών παγκοσμίως.In this paper we present key statistics on poverty, inequality and social exclusion in Greece and the eurozone over the crisis period 2009-2014. The data presented in this paper reveal that six years of economic recession and usterity in Greece have had a significant negative impact on rates of poverty and social exclusion, which have reached historically unprecedented and socially unacceptable high levels. Our data and analyses suggest that the Welfare State, one of the major functions of which is to redistribute income collected through taxation via social transfers, is the least effective in Greece, among all eurozone countries, in alleviating poverty and income inequality. Greece is ranked last in the Eurozone in terms of trust in government, freedom of choice, perceived levels of public sector corruption, and happiness, and third and second to last, respectively, in terms of trust in others and social support. We argue that the erosion of the social fabric and the perceived quality of the Greek climate of trust appear to be part of the story of Greece being the biggest happiness loser among 125 countries from 2005-2007 to 2012-2014

    Inflation persistence in structural macroeconomic models (RG10)

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    This paper analyses the response of inflation in the euro area to five macroeconomic shocks through the use of results derived from Eurosystem large-scale macroeconomic models. The main finding is that only a fiscal shock, and to a lesser extent a TFP shock, generate marked inflation persistence. In contrast, an indirect tax and an oil price shock appear much less persistent and a social security shock generates less inflation persistence in the majority of the countries (although some weak persistence was observed at the euro area level). The paper also considers evidence on the sources of persistence, which indicates that it is crucially affected by the responsiveness of wages to employment, by the sluggishness in the adjustments of the demand components, and by the speed of adjustment of employment to output and wage changes. JEL Classification: C53, E31, E52impulse response function, Inflation persistence, large-scale macroeconomic models

    Technologies of governance and education welfare: monitoring education transitions in Greece

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    The aim of this article is to explore the ways educational transitions, i.e. student dropout and early school leaving (ESL), are understood and governed in the contemporary Greek sociopolitical context that is dominated by a persistent economic crisis. Drawing upon the residual nature of the Greek welfare state the paper examines the shifts in the dominant discourses referring to ESL. Furthermore, it attempts to understand the configurations of educational attainment as well as the significance of monitoring technologies such as those of comparative statistics, especially in the context of European governance. It is argued that education transitions are multifaceted phenomena and act as sensors of socio-economic and cultural diversity in each national setting. While EU governance shifts from sophisticated technologies to direct unreserved control, compliance with the rules is a manifestation of political realism on the part of the Greek state, but at the same time a representation of the never accomplished European political integration. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
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