Prices and Exchange Rate of Hellenic Drachma (GRD), during 1981-

The paper presents empirical results on an import prices equation to the case of the small open Hellenic economy, during her course to the European Monetary Union, in the 1980s until mid-1990s. The analysis employs cointegration theory to examine the long-run co-movements of prices, effective exchange rate of GRD and unit labour cost of the European countries, which export to Greece. Innovation accounting is also used so as to detect the dynamics of the data set. We found slight evidence to support long run equilibrium, however, it was only the Hellenic inflation rate, which was adjusting to the deviations from this. The fragile stability of the system is confirmed by the impulse response functions examination where the exchange rate of the GRD do not converge to its long-run values, even after a 3 years period from the one unit-shock in various innovations. The determinant role of the growth rate of the unit labour cost and therefore of European countries’ prices to the exchange rate of GRD, to the Hellenic inflation rate, and less to the growth rate of the import prices is (1) justified by its high proportion to their variance decomposition and (2) became apparent approximately after 9 months. The latter seems to amount to the “contract-period” in the Magee’s terminology.Trade Balance Adjustment through exchange rate policies; European Monetary Integration; Unit Root Tests; Co-integration Analysis; Innovation Accounting

Trade Balance and Exchange-Rate for a Small Open Economy during the EMS: The Hellenic Case 1983:1-1995:12

We are interested on assessing the effectiveness of the Bank of Greece (BoG) exchange rate policy, to achieve the objective of adjusting balance of payments des-equilibrium, during the period 1983:1-1995:12. The traditional theory of the balance of payments adjustment process through exchange rate changes is used for this purpose. We found evidence, first, about the doubtful effectiveness of this policy due to the marginal verification of the critical elasticities condition; second, about the success of the exchange rate policy in the short-run, since the monthly data of bilateral exchange rates (USD, DEM, ITL, FRF, GBP, JPY) of the Hellenic Drachma (GRD) Granger cause the respective trade balances; third, about the significant co-movement in the series which in the long-run, are driven by the same stochastic trend. We are much aware of the tentative nature of these conclusions. However, our findings suggest that the loss of the exchange rate policy was costly in the case of Hellas because an efficient policy sacrificed by the BoG to the European Central Bank (ECB).Optimum Currency Area, EMS, EMU, Traditional Adjustment Process for Merchandise Payments, Granger Causality, Integration and Co- integration Analysis

Hellenic Export Prices and European Monetary Integration, 1970- 1995.

We aim to explain the variability of the Hellenic Export Index Unit Value, during the period 1970-1995. The Hellenic index of unit labour cost, an effective index of unit value of European competitors’ exports and the effective exchange rate of the Greek Drachma (GRD) are used as explanatory variables, suggested by the literature and much more by the consequences of the Hellenic accession into the EEC. We found evidence with regards to the sample’s split in the accession’s year 1981 and the equilibrium relationship between Hellenic export prices and exchange rate of GRD during the second subperiod. In addition, in spite of the small size of the Hellenic economy we detected the Greek exporters’ discreet pricing policy, for the first sub-period, this was possible due to the diversification of their destination markets and for the second, the sliding rate policy of the Bank of Greece. The latter policy combined with the European competitors’ pricing policy re-established their margins, with at the most a year lag, whenever the Hellenic labour cost was increased.Decomposition Approach; Export Prices Equations; Discreet Pricing Policy; Inconsistent triad; European Monetary Integration; Integration and Co-integration Analysis.

Cash and ownership on firms’ market value : evidence from Greek panel data

We implement panel data econometrics on non-linear empirical models to investigate how the firms’ market value is related with cash holdings and ownership concentration, on non-financial listed companies in Greece, before (2000-2009) and during the Eurozone crisis 2010-2015. It is confirmed the existence of an optimum level of cash (CASH) and the top 5 major shareholders ownership (OWN5) at which firms’ return on equity (ROE) has been maximized (concave function), especially over the crisis period and the total one. Yet, a convex function of the Tobin’s Q ratio (Q) on OWN5 has also been revealed significant for all sample periods. The findings support the tradeoff theory and the new kind of agency cost literature on expropriation effects of the minority by the majority. Interaction terms have also been found statistically significant, confirming that the special context of the Eurozone has influenced business, in the narrow Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). The estimated averages that maximize firms’ market values (for instance ROE), in relation to either CASH (0.83 of net assets, during the whole sample period 2000-’15, while 0.77 in the crisis one 2010-’15) or OWN5 (0.10 of equity, during 2000-’15, while 0.36 in the crisis one 2010-’15) could be useful for both investors and policy makers in Greece, a member-country of “sui generis” Eurozone, with an unsustainable public debt.peer-reviewe

Gender wage gap : evidence from the Hellenic maritime sector 1995-2002

Problem Statement: Gender wage gap has already been researched in the Hellenic (Greek) economy or within its public and private aggregate sectors, but, this was the first study ever done, especially for the maritime sector. Traditionally in Hellas, maritime industry income is the biggest one after tourism, while both industries covered approximately 30% of GDP or financed more than 35% of the trade balance deficit, during the last decade. We also investigated the correlation and dependence of wages (total, males, females) on attributes of the human capital theory, such as age, educational level and work experience. Approach: The data for the characteristics in question of the Hellenic maritime companies have been drawn from the European Structure of Earnings Surveys of 1995 and 2002 (Eurostat and National Statistical Service of Hellas). The statistical analysis comprised two steps; first, using summary statistics we described the relevant frequency distributions; second, the implemented non-parametric test-statistics (Mann-Whitney’s, Spearman’s rank correlation and 2-test of independence), answered the aforementioned questions, like, “is there any difference in the two populations?, e.g. male-hourly wage rate (HWR) against female-HWR, which is equivalent to “is there any gender pay gap?” or “what is the direction and the degree of linear relationship between, for instance, total HWR and the level of education?” or “are they independent of each other, e.g. males HWR and work experience?”. Results: The male-female wage distributions were not identical in 1995, so the discrimination was present, though, we did not find evidence of this gap in 2002. Hourly wage rate proved to be independent of educational level, while, dependent on work experience and age and for both latter characteristics, much more for females than for males. Conclusions/recommendations: The last results may explain the elimination of the gender pay gap at the end of the investigation period. Further research is needed so as to determine causal relationships.peer-reviewe

Dynamic Approach of Capital Structure of European Shipping Companies

The issue of capital structure of companies is one of the most debated problems of financial management. According to economic theory, capital structure determines the stock market value of firms and therefore their viability, while one of the most negative result of the crash of 2008 and the persisting crisis (excess supply in markets of labor and money) is their ongoing steep decline of lending by credit institutions and other sources. In this paper, considering the importance of the issue and motivated by the conflicting results of previous empirical studies, we attempt the analysis of capital structure of the European Maritime Enterprises (oceanic shipping). We focus on shipping companies, because of the large volume of funding that demands their main operation, due to the intensity of the assets held. The objectives of this research are firstly the identification of factors that affect the capital structure of European oceanic shipping and secondly to search for the existence of an ideal - target capital structure ratio. The determinants of capital structure are examined through static (fixed effect method and FGLS) and dynamic (GMM Methods) econometric models, using data from the financial statements of 32 listed European shipping companies for the period 2005-2010. The results suggest the prevalence of pecking order theory in our case, while a positive relationship arises between tangible assets and tax benefits (arising from sources other than borrowing) against leverage. Moreover, we observe a negative relationship between size or profitability and debt. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the decisions taken by European shipping on their capital structure

High risk HPV-positive women cervicovaginal microbial profiles in a Greek cohort: a retrospective analysis of the GRECOSELF study

Increasing evidence supports a role for the vaginal microbiome (VM) in the severity of HPV infection and its potential link to cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. However, a lot remains unclear regarding the precise role of certain bacteria in the context of HPV positivity and persistence of infection. Here, using next generation sequencing (NGS), we comprehensively profiled the VM in a series of 877 women who tested positive for at least one high risk HPV (hrHPV) type with the COBAS® 4,800 assay, after self-collection of a cervico-vaginal sample. Starting from gDNA, we PCR amplified the V3–V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and applied a paired-end NGS protocol (Illumina). We report significant differences in the abundance of certain bacteria compared among different HPV-types, more particularly concerning species assigned to Lacticaseibacillus, Megasphaera and Sneathia genera. Especially for Lacticaseibacillus, we observed significant depletion in the case of HPV16, HPV18 versus hrHPVother. Overall, our results suggest that the presence or absence of specific cervicovaginal microbial genera may be linked to the observed severity in hrHPV infection, particularly in the case of HPV16, 18 types

Stem cell factor is implicated in microenvironmental interactions and cellular dynamics of chronic lymphocytic leukemia

The inflammatory cytokine Stem Cell Factor (SCF, ligand of c-kit receptor) has been implicated as a pro-oncogenic driver and an adverse prognosticator in several human cancers. Increased SCF levels have recently been reported in a small series of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), however its precise role in CLL pathophysiology remains elusive. In this study, CLL cells were found to predominantly express the membrane isoform of SCF that is known to elicit a more robust activation of the c-kit receptor. SCF was significantly overexpressed in CLL cells compared to healthy tonsillar B cells whilst it correlated with adverse-prognostic biomarkers, shorter time-to-first treatment and shorter overall survival. Activation of immune receptors and long-term cell-cell interactions with the mesenchymal stroma led to an elevation of SCF primarily in adverse-prognostic CLL cases. On the contrary, suppression of oxidative stress and the BTK inhibitor Ibrutinib negated SCF levels. Interestingly, SCF significantly correlated with mitochondrial dynamics and HIF-1α which have previously been linked with clinical aggressiveness in CLL. SCF was able to elicit direct biological effects in CLL cells affecting redox homeostasis and cell proliferation. Overall, the aberrantly expressed SCF in CLL cells emerges as a key response regulator to microenvironmental stimuli whilst correlating with poor prognosis. On these grounds, specific targeting of this inflammatory molecule could serve as a novel therapeutic approach in CLL