1,720,973 research outputs found
Corruption and development. A comparative approach to socioeconomic and political dimensions worldwide
Get PDFThe present study investigates relevant economic, social and political dimensions of development worldwide, focusing on (apparent and latent) links between perceived corruption, economic and human development, government effectiveness and the quality of the political system taken as representative variables of countries’ social systems. These variables were selected as the basic determinants of the level of overall development in a country, since combinations of these factors determine clusters of countries with different development patterns. The results of this study indicate that effective development policies require integrated strategies that incorporate efforts to reduce corruption and increase human development and government effectiveness. These strategies are sustainable in the long run when associated with institutional transformations. More specifically, if democracy is not consolidated and the political system is not grounded on the basis of freedom, socioeconomic development cannot be achieved and maintained in the long term, even with a high level of per-capita income
Corruption in the World: Its Economic, Political and Geographic Determinants and their interactions
No full textToward a political budget cycle? Unveiling long-term latent paths in Greece
No full textEmpirical studies demonstrated the existence of political budget cycles in many countries, although mechanisms underlying such cycles remain substantially unclear. The present work investigates this mechanism using data from the Greek economy encompassing four decades (1980–2018). Results of regression models indicate that opportunistic political and economic behaviors arise on the part of elected politicians in power via manipulation of public expenditure rather than through the handling of public revenue. In years of general or parliamentary elections, public expenditure rose by about 2.2% of the country’s gross domestic product. This increase is atypical for advanced economies with well-established democratic systems. A specific analysis delineating what specific categories of public spending are associated with political budget cycles, also demonstrated that they were created through final consumption expenditure and especially through collective consumption expenditure. Our findings are robust to various specifications of the econometric model, both linear and non-linear. We conclude that, in the case of Greece, future fiscal rules aimed at suppressing political budget cycles should control pre-election collective consumption expenditures instead of regulating direct and indirect taxes
Domestic vs. External Economic Sectors and the Political Process: Insights from Greece
Get PDFBuilding on the well-established relationship between economic dynamics and political processes, we focus on the most important element of the political process, namely, general (or national) elections, and look into their effects on public finance and total economic output. In this vein, the present study has three objectives: (i) to investigate political budget cycles in Greece during the period known as the ‘Third Hellenic Republic’ (in Greek, ‘Metapolitefsi’, hereafter THR) since 1974; (ii) to assess whether national elections affect total economic activity in a stabilizing or destabilizing way; and (iii) to examine the possible effects of the external sector of the economy on the budget balance. The empirical findings of our analysis document how the Greek economy was characterized by sharp political budget cycles in correspondence with the THR, exerting a destabilizing effect on the total output of the economy. Performances of the external sector of the economy have significantly affected budget balances in Greece
Tourism in time of crisis: specialization, spatial diversification and potential to growth across European regions
Get PDFTourism development has a valuable impact on employment and output, contributing to post-crisis economic recovery. Under the hypothesis that tourism development is a complex phenomenon shaped by economic growth and negatively influenced by the most recent financial crisis, this study proposes a comprehensive analysis of the spatial istribution of tourism activities across European countries and regions during recession time (2008-2014). Changes in the location quotient of tourism jobs were computed to
evaluate the importance of this sector across European regions, providing an informative base for policies enhancing tourism competitiveness. The 2007 recession resulted a patiallyheterogeneous impact on tourism specialization across European regions,maintaining a strong (and sometimes declining) base in southern Europe, promoting tourism diversification with sparse employment growth in western and central Europe and strengthening cultural and natural attraction poles in northern Europe
Political budget cycles and effects of the excessive deficit procedure: The case of Greece
Get PDFWe study the existence, magnitude, and determinants of political budget cycles in Greece over the past 40 years. We find that the Greek economy has been characterised by extensive electorally-motivated cycles, which are not typical of a developed country. However, we show that the corrective fiscal measures imposed by the European institutions in the face of the Greek debt crisis suppressed these pre-electoral fiscal policy manipulations. In particular, the imposition of the Excessive Deficit Procedure of the Stability and Growth Pact reduced the ability of domestic politicians to increase public deficits to the point where it eliminated, albeit only marginally, political budget cycles
Corruption and economic competitiveness: What greece can tell us
No full textUnder the assumption that economic competitiveness has a significant impact on the overall level of corruption in a given country, the present study evaluates the influence that a wide array of national reforms related to the pillars of structural competitiveness has on corruption in the case of Greece. In order to inform national and regional policies against corruption, three indices were calculated that express: (1) the impact of each specific reform on corruption; (2) the required reform effort and (3) the efficiency of the reform index, taking into consideration the competitiveness gap between Greece and Switzerland – the country with the best performance worldwide in terms of competitiveness. These indicators may indicate which reforms have the highest payoff in terms of corruption abatement, which are less costly to undertake and which deliver the greatest reduction in corruption per required effort, respectively. The empirical results of this study suggest that in a number of areas the associated reforms may translate into lower levels of corruption. Under this conceptual framework, institutions seem to be of high importance as they have a substantial impact as far as the reduction of corruption is concerned, with relatively low reform effort. Therefore, a comprehensive policy reform referring to the pillars of structural competitiveness is expected to deliver lower levels of corruption in Greece, allowing the substantial increase of its competitiveness and hence its faster convergence with the more advanced economies in the European Union
Exploring tourism activity in countries and regions of Europe in the recent period of crisis
No full textTourism is one of the most fundamental sectors at the global level while it consists a basic pillar of development regarding the European economy. Tourism exerts a great impact on employment and output and as a result it may constitute a basic tool for economic recovery after a period of recession. Therefore, apart from its economic dimension tourism has a major social impact. Also, it should be pointed out that tourism is a complex product and is currently examined under the spectrum of the recent global financial crisis. Due to the aforementioned factors, the existence of a unified and coherent analysis is essential so as to explore the distribution of tourism activity among countries and regions of Europe. As a result, the relative importance of this sector for several parts of Europe is analyzed providing a useful framework for the enhancement of tourism competitiveness, the prosperity of people, the job enhancement as well as the reinforcement of the associated natural and cultural poles of attraction
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