Does Higher Education Affect Economic Growth? The Case of Greece

Abstract

The purpose of the study is twofold: first, it presents an extensive review of empirical studies that have examined the relationship between higher education and economic growth. Second, it estimates the effect of higher education on economic growth in Greece over the period 1960–2009. It applies the model introduced by Mankiw, Romer, and Weil (1992 Mankiw, G., Romer, D., & Weil, D. (1992). A contribution to the empirics of economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2), 407–437. doi: 10.2307/2118477[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) by using the higher enrolment rates as a proxy of human capital. The paper employs cointegration and an error-correction model to test the causal relationship between higher education, physical capital investments and economic growth. The empirical analysis reveals that there is a long-run cointegrating relationship between higher education, physical capital investments and economic growth. The elasticity of economic growth with respect to higher education is 0.52%. The results also suggest that there is evidence of unidirectional long-run and short-run Granger causality running from higher education and physical capital investments to economic growth.     

Testing the dependency theory on small island economies: The case of Cyprus

This paper empirically tests the validity of dependency theory in the small island setting of Cyprus, to establish whether a periphery/patron relationship exists between each of the island's two economies and their respective mainland partners of Greece and Turkey. Using data for the 1978–2013 period, we first test for the necessary condition, i.e. whether there is a long-run cointegrating relationship in the economic development of the Republic of Cyprus (RC) and Greece, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Turkey. We then test for the sufficient condition, i.e. whether periphery-economy per capita income series to be weakly endogenous, while those of patron economies are weakly exogenous. Our results indicate strong dependency within the periphery/patron economy pairs of the RC/Greece and the TRNC/Turkey. Further, we show that economic growth in the periphery economies is largely driven by that of the patron economies. Using a Markov-switching vector autoregressive (MS-VAR) model of the short-run business cycle, we demonstrate that the RC/Greece and the TRNC/Turkey co-move in the short-run, and that business cycles with each pair are synchronized. The policy implications of these findings are then discussed.     

Lacosamide as a first-line treatment option in focal epilepsy: a cost-utility analysis for the Greek healthcare system

Background and aims: Epilepsy is the most common serious neurological disorder worldwide. Approximately 40% of patients with focal epileptic seizures remain uncontrolled with antiepileptic drug (AED) monotherapy or polytherapy. Lacosamide has been recently approved by the European Medicines Agency as monotherapy for the treatment of focal seizures. The aim of this study was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of lacosamide compared with zonisamide as first-line treatment of focal epilepsy in patients with epilepsy aged ≥ 16?years to inform clinical decision-making in Greece.

Methods: A discrete event simulation model was adapted to reflect treatment pathways and resource use within the Greek national healthcare system, as specified by clinical experts. The model captures time-varying events and patient characteristics. Clinical inputs were sourced from pivotal trials and a network meta-analysis comparing lacosamide with other AEDs. The model predicts disease progression and seizures, relevant and most common adverse events, withdrawal due to lack of efficacy or adverse events, and epilepsy-specific and all-cause mortality over a 2-year time horizon. Unit costs were retrieved from published Greek sources. Health outcomes were measured as quality-adjusted life years (QALYs); secondary outcome was the cost per seizure avoided. Robustness of the results was tested with univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analyses.

Results: The lacosamide treatment pathway was associated with higher costs (i.e. €1,064) and an additional 0.119 QALYs when compared with zonisamide, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of €8,938 per QALY gained. The sensitivity analyses demonstrated that the results are most sensitive to the efficacy and utility estimates.

Limitations: There are a number of limitations which stem from the process of model adaptation and lack of local real-world evidence.

Conclusions: Lacosamide is a cost-effective option at a willingness-to-pay threshold of €30,000 per QALY, representing a valuable monotherapy treatment option for patients with focal epileptic seizures in the Greek setting.     

The National Wealth–Income Ratio in Greece, 1974–2013

Can the rise of wealth–income ratios observed in rich economies be found in the case of Greece as well? This paper uses a generalization of a two‐good wealth accumulation equation to estimate the evolution of the national wealth–income ratio, and finds that, similarly to the European evidence, the ratio rises from about 280 percent in the 1970s to about 500 percent on the eve of the current financial crisis. On average, during 1974–96, the saving‐induced wealth growth cancels out the capital losses, whereas in the subsequent decade, 1997–2007, the balance changes considerably when the saving effect vanishes and the prolonged capital gains result in a rising wealth–income ratio. During the recession, income falls faster than wealth. The results remain robust to several alterations of the benchmark framework.     

Strategic human resource management and its effects on firm performance: an implementation of the competing values framework

Based on the literature of the competing values framework, this paper develops a new HRM model and attempts to clarify what type of HRM (in terms of the orientation of the function) is linked with various aspects of firm performance. In order to acquire a better view of this much researched issue, three more factors that influence this relationship have been added to the equation: competitive strategy, external environment and organizational size. The empirical research was carried out in Greece among a sample of 104 organizations. The research findings show that when HRM is consistent with the competitive strategy it has significant effects on financial performance. Another important finding is that market performance is positively influenced by HRM flexibility and negatively influenced by HRM control, unless the external environment is complex, when the most successful combination is control-internal orientation.     

AN EVALUATION OF THE GREEK UNIVERSITIES’ ECONOMICS DEPARTMENTS

This study provides a ranking of Economics Departments of Greek universities. Contrary to the existing literature, we look directly at the citations of the faculty members as a measure of academic performance and avoid the classification of journals. Additionally, the country of the PhD studies was found to be a significant variable that can explain the productivity of Greek economists. PhD holders from US and UK universities are characterized by higher productivity compared to those from other countries.     

Broad money demand and financial liberalization in Greece

This paper develops a constant, data-coherent, equilibrium correction model for broad money demand (M3) in Greece over 1976–1994. The aggregate M3 was targeteduntil recently, and current monetary policy still uses such aggregates as guidelines. In spite of financial innovation, financial liberalization, and large fluctuations in the inflation rate, the estimated model is remarkabli stable. Dynamics are important, with price and income elasticities being much smaller in the short run than in the long run. The model provides a better understanding of the portfolio consequences of financial innovation and the effects of monetary policy in Greece.The authors are staff economists in the Division of International Finance, Federal Reserve Board, Washington, DC 20551 USA, and the Research Department, International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC 20431 USA, respectively. They may be reached on the Internet at ericsson@frb.gov and ssharma@imf.org. The views expressed in this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and should not be interpreted as reflecting those of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the International Monetary Fund, or other members of their staffs. We wish to thank the Bank of Greece for providing the data; Sophocles Brissimis, Nicholas Paleocrassas, and George Simigiannis for offering insights into institutional aspects of the Greek financial system; and Richard Agénor, Caroline Atkinson, Adi Brender, Julia Campos, Dimitri Demekas, David Hendry, Katarina Juselius, Tim Lane, Helmut Lütkepohl, Jaime Marquez, Jürgen Wolters, and two anonymous referees for useful comments. An earlier version of this paper appeared as Ericsson and Sharma (1996). All numerical results were obtained using PcGive Professional Versions 8 and 9: see Doornik and Hendry (1994a, 1994b, 1996, 1997) and Hendry and Doornik (1996). The data may be obtained from the Internet, http://wotan.wiwi.hu-berlin.de/ oekonometrie/engl/data.html     

New development: Eloquent silence—civil service career development in the EU financial assistance programmes conditionality

ABSTRACT

This article examines how civil servants’ career development was treated in the loan-driven EU reform recommendations for Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Ireland and Spain in the aftermath of the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. Neither the European Commission (EC), nor the ‘Troika’, made any proposals for reforming the career development of those countries’ civil services. This omission is dysfunctional given the otherwise ambitious reform agenda the EC required from these countries in order to grant them financial support.     

Spatial evolution of airport traffic and air transport liberalisation: the case of Greece

This paper explores the evolution of airport passenger traffic in Greece over the period 1978–2006. The country is a member of the European Common Aviation Area, but despite air transport liberalisation, spatial concentration of traffic and asymmetry remain high and have not decreased significantly over time. Greece is still short of traffic generated by low-cost carriers especially outside the main metropolitan airports. The paper argues that further dispersion of traffic could be possible primarily in the mainland if low-cost carriers decide to dynamically enter the Greek market. Potential benefits for regional and tourism development should induce policy makers to work towards this direction.