Investment Patterns and the Competitiveness of Greek Regions (original) (raw)

Capital allocation in the Greek regions

Journal of Policy Modeling, 2011

The present study analyses the location of new economic activities in the 51 Greek prefectures (NUTS III level) as the outcome of agglomeration economies and other factors that are acknowledged as determinants of new firm location. Cross-section data referring to the location choices of firms in manufacturing, commerce, services and tourism within 2005 are used. Results indicate that agglomeration effects largely determine a region's attractiveness and appropriateness as an investment location. In addition, the effect of other factors such as demand, expected profit and cost conditions is identified as important. Interestingly, regional characteristics seem to affect in different ways the location of start-ups belonging to different industries.

Regional Prosperity and Public Investment Distribution in Greece

The government aiming at reducing inequalities uses different types of public investment, while regional prosperity is associated with inequalities. Therefore an affective allocation of a Public Investment Program is of great importance and has aroused the interest within the years. Public spending on investment derives from the Public Investment Program (PIP) presented in the annual Budget of the Greek government. Throughout the past years the Greek government spent large amounts of money on investment projects in the Greek prefectures using political criteria. The question to be solved is whether there is a mathematical way of solving this regional allocation problem. In this context, the paper investigates the allocation of public investment using the corresponding rate of distribution found in literature. One of the various applications of regional multipliers is in regional policy depicting the regional inequalities. The rate of distribution that is examined is first described. Then a study is performed using this rate of distribution and data from Greece and the results are compared to the investment allocation in Greece. Finally a sensitivity analysis is performed and the derived conclusions are cited.

Types of public investment and the regions: a spatial economic analysis of government spending on Greek prefectures over the period 1976-2005

This paper utilizes a large database on public investment at the prefecture (NUTS-3) level in Greece for the period 1976-2005 to examine a series of questions that have to do with the allocation of public investment in the country. We focus on five aggregate expenditure categories (productive, social, transport, urban and local expenditures). We start by examining the spatial distribution of these types of public investments for the 30-year period of our sample, seeking to describe the main patterns of spatial concentration and identify significant temporal structural breaks. We then examine the extent to which expenditures in different types of public investment appear to be complementary across space and over time. We also examine the redistributive character of each of these types of expenditures and try to relate the regional allocation of investments to specific economic, locational and political characteristics of the Greek regions. Finally, we perform a large set of complemen...

Without purpose and strategy?: a spatio-functional analysis of the regional allocation of public investment in Greece

2011

We utilise a large database on public investment at the prefecture (NUTS-3) level in Greece for the period 1976-2008 to examine the spatial and functional allocation of public investment in the country. We investigate the extent to which expenditures in different types of public investment are complementary across space and over time and examine their redistributive character. We also analyse regional specialisations and the geographical concentration of public investments and complementarily use an exploratory spatial data analysis to examine the extent of clustering of public investment and identify possible patterns in the geography of clusters and hotspots. Although our analysis uses predominantly descriptive tools, our results have confirmatory power, as they reveal a surprisingly random pattern for the spatial and functional allocation of public investment in Greece, thus raising important questions about the rationale for these allocations and, by implication, about the geographical, political and economic dynamics that underlie them. These questions obtain an additional salience in light of the administrative and fiscal reforms pursued currently by the Greek government under the pressure of the country's sovereign debt crisis.

The Determinants of Investment Activity in Greece (1960-'99)

2005

The present paper examines the determinants of investment activity in Greece over the period 1960-1999. It describes briefly the investment activity in Greece and then tests for the factors that presumably influence this investment activity. The paper uses a ...

Foreign Direct Investments, Regional Incentives and Regional Attractiveness in Greece

2004

The aim of this paper is to analyze the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) activity in Greece. The paper starts with defining the main FDI terms and giving a general literature review corresponding to the FDI allocation. Then, there is a description of recent trends in FDI activity both worldwide and Greece. Especially FDI investments in Greece are analyzed presenting the magnitudes of inflows, outflows, inward stock, outward stock, as well as foreign mergers and acquisitions, in terms of sales and purchases.

Public Spending Patterns: The Regional Allocation of Public Investment in Greece by Political Period

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

The spatial dispersion of public investment constitutes one of the principal elements and also one of the key issues concerning a country's strategic regional development. Public investment expenditure represents in part the 'social wage' citizens receive, while at the same time it generates external economies for the productive sectors of the economy. Using a dataset that includes total outlays by all central, regional and local authorities, this paper traces the distribution of public investment in Greek prefectures (NUTS 3) over the period 1976-2005. It seeks to highlight the spending pattern governments of that period had followed, to compare the changes (if any) between different periods, and to explain whether redistribution of national wealth or other factors, including political ones, could be contributing to explaining the pattern and its temporal changes.

Selected aspects of investment attractiveness of regions

The paper presents selected problems referring to investment attractiveness of regions. Its initial part discusses theoretical aspects of investment attractiveness determinants. Next the examples of determinants regarding regional investment attractiveness are listed. They are divided into six thematic groups of factors: economic, socio-cultural, political and administrative quality, technological and innovative, natural and image specific ones. The analysis of the report published by The GdaƄsk Institute for Market Economics, and referring to investment attractiveness of Polish regions, constitutes the core part of the paper. There are also presented e.g. the decisive factors influencing investment attractiveness of Polish regions including their characteristics, as well as the analysis of positions occupied by particular regions in terms of investment attractiveness in the recent eight years.

European Regional Policy and Development in Greece: Do Statistics Justify the Investments

2011

The study presented in the paper attempts to examine if the alleged effectiveness of the developmental funds -one of the main strategic tools of the EU -can be traced in the typical statistics provided by various authorities and organizations. The study focuses in the case of funds used in Greece during a period of years and it tries to provide insight in the issue, based on statistical and empirical data analysis methodologies.