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This thesis concerns the economic dimensions of the Marshall Plan in Greece from 1947 to 1952. The Marshall Aid Program and Mission contributed to the reconstruction and development of the Greek economy after the destruction of World War II and the Greek Civil War. However, because of the shortcomings of its backward economy, Greece was a special case in the implementation of the Marshall Plan in Europe. In particular, the problems of inefficiency and corruption influenced political and social issues on the decision-making process, while uniquely, the Marshall planners tried to create institutions in order to facilitate reconstruction and to improve Greek people's life. The implementation of the Marshall Plan aimed at the development of the Greek economy parallel to the economic development of the other European countries. The Marshall Plan tried to help the backward Greek economy participate in international trade, and created the foundations for the post-war development of the Greek economy. The principal argument of the thesis is that the Greek economy was too weak to absorb fully the enormous aid granted because private and state investments were too negligible to meet further economic development, while a number of Greek politicians and bourgeoisie prevented the implementation of the economic programme. This forced the American Marshall planners to 'freeze' a great part of the aid in order to cover the budget deficit and to hold inflation. The 'frozen' aid 'counterpart funds' were utilised in the two fiscal years following June 1952. Therefore, in the post-war period, the Marshall Plan was the first systematic effort to stabilise the Greek economy, thereby in due course enabling Greece to join the European Economic Community in 1980.

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The focus of this thesis is the poor competitive position of the pig industry in Taiwan and the design and evaluation of initiatives to improve the situation. To address these problems, this study set out to design and evaluate educational, training and motivational initiatives for pig farm managers and stockpeople and also for personnel involved in transport of pigs and in the handling of pigs in abattoirs and auction markets. Almost all the participants (99%) found the Pre-Training meetings helpful in preparing them for the training and in providing them with the opportunity to contribute to the planning of the Training Courses and the motivational initiatives.  The majority of the participants (53%)<i> </i>wished to have science based Training Courses at frequent (every 1 to 3<i> </i>months) intervals.  There was very strong support (90%) for a progressive career ladder for stockpeople, the award of ‘advancement’ certificates and more appropriate job titles to reflect the considerable knowledge and skills of good stockpeople.  Although there was strong overall support for the training and motivational initiatives and their impacts, this was greater on family farms than on company farms.  The training resulted in a considerable increase in knowledge as reflected by the increase in Post Course relative to Pre Course Test Scores.  Increases in Test Scores for family (60.2 v 91.2) and company farms (58.7 v 89.2) was 51 and 52% respectively.  Responses to the same questionnaire completed both before and after training indicated that while both the job satisfaction and morale was increased significantly after training on family farms, this was not the case on company farms.  However, there was very strong evidence on both family and company farms that training significantly (p<0.001) increased both awareness of animal welfare and the determination to improve animal welfare.

In Taiwan, the history of aquaculture spans over three hundred years and the breakthroughs in the artificial propagation of finfish and shrimp effectively reduced the industries' reliance on wild fry, thereby stabilizing commercial operations and overcoming the barriers for expansion. Taiwan is located very close to Japan, one of the biggest seafood importers in the world, which has also benefited the development of aquaculture. However, the growing problems of water pollution and the increasingly high environmental costs generated by aquaculture ventures have made Taiwan experience a declining trend in recent years. To overcome those constraints, three main areas are described, which then form the basis of this study. (1). Adjustment of existing production practices - Milkfish culture, one of the most vulnerable sectors suffering from price fluctuation is used as an example to understand both the production cost, market attributes and the ways in which impacts of variations between production and price can be reduced. (2). Improving existing systems - One of the methods to reduce the use of underground water is to use super intensive culture in which high densities are stable and water use minimised, and has been tried in Taiwan for eels. However, the cost and benefits must be evaluated and as most eel products are exported to the Japanese market, it is very important to examine the comparative advantages against other countries. (3). Develop new systems- One of the solutions to the constraints of land-based aquaculture in Taiwan is to develop seawater-based cage culture. This has been developed in a limited degree in Ping-Tong and Pen-Hu counties but the feasibility and profitability have not been investigated. Based on 274 milkfish farms, 63 traditional eel farms, 5 intensive eel farms, 22 cage culture farms and 133 consumers from different zones, constituted the primary data, which combined with other secondary data constructed this investigation. The milkfish sector was not economically sound. Farm size in the categories of 4-&lt;5 ha could appear to be more profitable. Cold weather and unstable in price made this industry more risky. The price was very unstable and strongly correlated to seasonal variation of production. The various forms of average financial appraisal have shown that intensive eel culture has a slight advantage over traditional eel culture. However, traditional eel culture has a higher distribution and the financial advantage of intensive culture is primarily due to the cheaper eel seed. The mass production of eel from China has caused Taiwan to lose the comparative advantage in roasted eel for the Japanese market. Cage culture is a new aquaculture venture in Taiwan. The structure of cages, feed and other facilities still need to be improved. Although Dumerils's Amberjack (Seriola dumerili) and red porgy (Pagrus major) can make higher profits than other species, fish farmers still have great expectation for cobia (Rachycentron canadus). As Taiwan's market is not big enough, there is great hope that the Japanese market can be developed and cobia can become a candidate for sashimi (raw fish). For sustainable development, aquaculture must be economically viable, ecologically sound and socially acceptable. To attain these goals, production and marketing groups, and production area were suggested. Proper administration and management could help the industry to be sustainable.

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