Effectiveness of Economic Adjustment Programmes for Debt Crises Implemented in the Southern European Union Countries

This article addresses the effectiveness of the economic adjustment programmes for debt crises implemented in the southern European Union countries, a rather contemporary, as well as disputable, issue. All South-European countries that faced a debt crisis had already adopted the European single currency – Euro. Our literature review depicts contemporary research work on debt crises, their economic and social implications either generally or, more relative to our work, South-European-country specific. Our research work is based on a wide range of statistical indices, in an effort to appreciate the effectiveness of the economic adjustment programmes, holistically. The countries addressed were Greece, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus. The applied statistical indices were grouped in six pillars that are considered to be essential to social prosperity. These pillars are financial prosperity, employment, healthcare, education, governance and entrepreneurship. All data were eventually incorporated in a single index, namely `Social Prosperity Index', in an attempt to attain a holistic view on the effectiveness of these programmes. This approach contradicts the mainstream approach of pure financially oriented assessments. Portugal scores first in this appraisal – not only fully recovering but even improving social prosperity standards for its citizens – followed closely by Spain and Cyprus. Greece recorded the worst classification, albeit the index is recovering to pro-crisis levels. Our empirical results suggest that these programmes had a significant impact on the countries that were implemented. In solely financial terms, the programmes proved to be quite effective for all countries. However, their effectiveness is rather questionable if we take into consideration all pillars of social prosperity. The most problematic pillar is employment, which challenges governments and especially their citizens. European and sovereign policies must urgently address employment problems, whereas economists are already talking about a `lost generation'.     Keywords: sovereign debt crisis, Euro, social prosperity, economic adjustment programmes, South Europe &nbsp

Effectiveness of Economic Adjustment Programmes for Debt Crises Implemented in the Southern European Union Countries

This article addresses the effectiveness of the economic adjustment programmes for debt crises implemented in the southern European Union countries, a rather contemporary, as well as disputable, issue. All South-European countries that faced a debt crisis had already adopted the European single currency – Euro. Our literature review depicts contemporary research work on debt crises, their economic and social implications either generally or, more relative to our work, South-European-country specific. Our research work is based on a wide range of statistical indices, in an effort to appreciate the effectiveness of the economic adjustment programmes, holistically. The countries addressed were Greece, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus. The applied statistical indices were grouped in six pillars that are considered to be essential to social prosperity. These pillars are financial prosperity, employment, healthcare, education, governance and entrepreneurship. All data were eventually incorporated in a single index, namely `Social Prosperity Index', in an attempt to attain a holistic view on the effectiveness of these programmes. This approach contradicts the mainstream approach of pure financially oriented assessments. Portugal scores first in this appraisal – not only fully recovering but even improving social prosperity standards for its citizens – followed closely by Spain and Cyprus. Greece recorded the worst classification, albeit the index is recovering to pro-crisis levels. Our empirical results suggest that these programmes had a significant impact on the countries that were implemented. In solely financial terms, the programmes proved to be quite effective for all countries. However, their effectiveness is rather questionable if we take into consideration all pillars of social prosperity. The most problematic pillar is employment, which challenges governments and especially their citizens. European and sovereign policies must urgently address employment problems, whereas economists are already talking about a `lost generation'.     Keywords: sovereign debt crisis, Euro, social prosperity, economic adjustment programmes, South Europe &nbsp

Turkish Imports of Strategic Products from Israel: Strategic Bonds amongst Turbulent Relations

During the last two decades, Turkish-Israeli relations were downgraded from a strategic importance status to an almost hostile one. At the same time, the trade between these two countries has not been affected at all by this negative development. Even though this paradox has already been noticed in the relevant literature, scholarly works have not yet focused on the study of the strategic trade between these two countries in order to examine deeper this contradictory trade-foreign relations interaction. Taking into account that the bilateral relations reached a bottom level only after a political change in Turkey in 2002, the present paper focuses on the strategic products that Turkey imported from Israel. Therefore, the paper addresses the question whether the latter turbulent Turkish-Israeli relations have affected the Turkish imports of strategic products from Israel. To this research question, the paper hypothesizes that the unfavorable climate of the bilateral relations had a quite negative impact on the imports of such products from Israel. Thus, the aim of the paper is to study these imports of strategic products in terms of size and magnitude in order to explore their role in the overall imports of Turkey from Israel and the bilateral relations of these two countries, as well. To achieve this aim, the paper analyzes the quantitative data of Turkish imports from Israel concerning a number of strategic products, from 1995 to 2019, employing descriptive and correlation statistics. The research results reveal that strategic products constitute the main content of the imports of Turkey from Israel, while their trading took place mainly during the years when the bilateral relations had been severely deteriorated. Therefore, the role of strategic products is proved fundamental for the trade and foreign relations between Turkey and Israel. © 2022, Bucharest University of Economic Studies. All rights reserved

The Impact of Mobile Commerce in Kavala

The mobile commerce, as an integral and often dominant part of a broader technological, economic and social system, is closely linked to environmental conditions that affect; this affects their decisions and strategy implemented. Undoubtedly, in the current era, the competition is increased and dominant in the market, pushing their bodies and citizens to abandon traditional and time-consuming methods of business functions, practices and yet purchases. The purpose of this study, it is the presentation and the penetration of mobile commerce to the citizens of Kavala. In particular, how they use their mobile devices in making purchases. The survey conducted in 2015 on a random sample of 220 people with criterion that the respondents have a mobile equipment. It was studied the use of wireless technologies in conjunction with the recognition and use of electronic commerce by both consumers and business world. The questionnaire has 47 questions concerning the population distribution, the advanced technology of their mobile devices, the interest for products and services provided by m-commerce and the security they feel. Finally, the respondents were asked for the purchases made by their mobile equipments and whether they were satisfied. For the measurement of the research factors which appear in the conducted study, the method of multiple determinants variables were used. The data analysis was carried out with the use of the statistical program SPSS Statistics 19.0.The conclusions of the survey is that despite the cost of use, the connection speeds, and security and misuse of personal data problems, the mobile commerce is in constant development due to the critical mass of the users who immediately and practically use their mobile devices. Keywords: M-commerce, Impact, Kavala, questionnair