Nikos Benos, Stelios Karagiannis and Prodromos Vlamis
The aim of this paper is to identify the importance of property sector investment in regional economic growth in Greece.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to identify the importance of property sector investment in regional economic growth in Greece.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses regional accounts data, including investment and employment for all Greek industries. The standard Cobb‐Douglas specification is used. The authors apply random effects and GMM estimators for dynamic panel data and employ two model specifications (aggregate and disaggregate).
Findings
The results indicate a positive relationship between investment in real estate services and hotels and restaurants and regional growth. Also, investment in the energy sector, which is closely linked to construction and consequently to housing activity, appears to have a positive and significant growth effect.
Practical implications
The authors believe that these results are useful, make a contribution to the existing knowledge, and provide firm justification that the property sector has a considerable effect on regional economic growth in Greece.
Originality/value
One of the distinctive features of the paper is that it discusses critically the extent to which the Greek property sector, as part of a broader nexus of domestic and global dynamics, affects regional economic growth – either directly or indirectly. To the best of the authors' knowledge, none of the existing studies in this area provides a systematic treatment of the property sector as a contributory factor in explaining the growth performance of Greek regions. The authors believe that this is an important empirical issue, especially given the spatial disparities that characterise Greek economic growth.
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Simeon Papadopoulos and Stelios Karagiannis
The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues of efficiency, economies of scale and technical change in Southern European banking.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues of efficiency, economies of scale and technical change in Southern European banking.
Design/methodology/approach
The flexible Fourier functional form of the stochastic cost frontier approach is used to calculate inefficiencies for a large sample of Southern European banks between 1999 and 2004. Economies of scale estimates are calculated by estimating firm‐specific cost elasticities.
Findings
The findings suggest that the largest sized banks are generally the least efficient banks and the smallest sized banks are the most efficient. The strongest economies of scale are displayed by Spanish banks, while the weakest economies of scale are reported by Greek banks. The impact of technical change in reducing bank costs (generally about 3 and 4 per cent per annum) does not appear to differ according to bank size.
Research limitations/implications
This study does not distinguish private banks from public or mutual banks and does not account for the effect of risk on the employment of bank capital.
Originality/value
The value of this paper is to provide new and recent evidence on the very important issue of efficiency and technical change in Southern European markets.
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Nadia Gulko, Flor Silvestre Gerardou and Nadeeka Withanage
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting has been widely accepted as a vital tool for communicating with stakeholders on a range of social, environmental, and governance…
Abstract
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting has been widely accepted as a vital tool for communicating with stakeholders on a range of social, environmental, and governance issues, but how companies define, interpret, apply, integrate, and communicate their CSR efforts and impacts in corporate reporting is anything but a straightforward task. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the concept of materiality in CSR reporting and demonstrate practical examples of good CSR and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reporting practices. We chose the aviation industry because of its economic relevance, constant growth, and future expected changes in the aftermath of COVID-19. In addition, airlines affect many of the SDGs directly and indirectly with contending results. This chapter is timely because of the growing willingness by companies to integrate CSR and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) thinking into the corporate strategy and business operations using materiality assessment and enhancing their competitive advantage and ability to maintain long-term value and because ESG and ethical investing have become part of the mainstream investing. Thus, this chapter contributes to an understanding of the wide range of existing and new reporting frameworks and regulations and reinforces the importance of discussing how this diversity of approaches can affect the work toward worldwide comparability of CSR and sustainability reporting.