Suchergebnisse

ABSTRACT*: The author highlights the problems and prospects of public enterprises within the European Union, as well as the major adjustments considered necessary for these enterprises to fulfil their role. He argues that general criteria determining whether the production of goods and services should be in the public sector cannot be readily established in the European Union, since public supply does not solely depend on the specific economic characteristics of the particular good or service, but also on the prevailing social, cultural and economic conditions in each country, on the economic policy pursued, and on the structural characteristics of its private and public sectors, including entrepreneurial and trade union behaviour.

ABSTRACT: In this paper we look at the most successful enterprises in the social sector, the enterprises that have been growing steadily for decades and whose assets today exceed 250 million ECUs. However, they are also facing the need for further expansion and for more and new capital. They must also compete with the capitalistic firms who draw millions of ECUs from the stock exchange. In short, these companies are being told that they can get all the money they need but they must first abandon all the elements that give them their social character.

The study considers the determinants of corruption in the 23 Mediterranean and Balkan countries where it is widely recognized that this phenomenon is widespread. Starting from the general hypothesis that the extent of corruption in any country is a combination of motives and opportunities, our scope is to examine the most important economic, political and social factors that determine corruption in this region. We accept that motives are determined by the level of human development, while opportunities by the degree of government effectiveness, which in turn is determined by the level of economic development and the existing political system. We show that the level of corruption is affected by the degree of human development, while the degree of government effectiveness affects crucially the level of corruption. On its turn, government effectiveness is mainly determined by the level of economic development and the existing political system. Improving government effectiveness, increasing the levels of human and economic development and establishing a more democratic political system form therefore the pillars of any anticorruption strategies in these countries. ; peer-reviewed

This paper attempts to estimate the supply response for wheat production in Greek agriculture. In our analysis we use the rigorous cointegration and the error correction method, as it is superior to the generally used Nerlovian partial-adjustment model. Since wheat is one of the most important commodities in the Greek agriculture, comprising 26 percent of the total cultivated land, the estimation of its price responsiveness is vitally important in supporting agricultural policy decisions. The results of our analysis reveal that there is a long-term stable relationship between the supplied quantity of wheat and real gross revenue of wheat producers, suggesting that in order to raise wheat yield and farmer incomes, considering the European Union agricultural policy, productivity increases play a vital role. The government's policy should therefore be channelled through measures that will encourage productivity increases. ; peer-reviewed