published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Economics and Finance / Master / Master of Philosophy

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Η εργασία αυτή παρουσιάζει μια εμπειρική ανάλυση για τις επιπτώσεις της μετανάστευσης στα οικονομικά μεγέθη της Ελλάδας. Εξετάζουμε τις επιπτώσεις για την απασχόληση, την συμμετοχή στο εργατικό δυναμικό, την ανεργία και τους μισθούς. Ανάλογες μελέτες έχουν γίνει και σε άλλες χώρες και τα αποτελέσματα δείχνουν να μην υπάρχει σημαντική επίδραση της μετανάστευσης σε αυτά τα μεγέθη. Χρησιμοποιήσαμε τρεις μεθόδους εκτιμήσεων, με σκοπό να συγκρίνουμε τα αποτελέσματά μας με την διεθνή βιβλιογραφία και να πάρουμε πιο αμερόληπτες εκτιμήσεις. Τα αποτελέσματά μας συμφωνούν με τα γενικά ευρήματα της βιβλιογραφίας και δείχνουν ότι και στην Ελλάδα οι επιπτώσεις της μετανάστευσης είναι μικρές γενικά, στο σύνολο της οικονομίας. / This paper presents an empirical analysis about the consequences of immigration in the economy of Greece. We examine the repercussions for the employment, the participation in workforce, the unemployment and the wage. Proportional studies, in other countries show that does not exists important effect of immigration in these sizes. We used three methods of estimates, so we can compare our results with the international bibliography and take more unbiased estimates. Our results agree with the results of the international bibliography and they show that in Greece the repercussions of immigration are also small, in its entirety of the economy.

Looking at the post-socialist cases of Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Russia, this dissertation asks whether rapid development of political markets in post-socialist polities represents the anomaly of post-socialist transformation or, perhaps, it represents the normal trajectory of the evolutionary development of democratic institutions. The study has a cross-disciplinary approach, incorporating insights and analyses from different disciplines. To answer the research question in this study, a comprehensive (comparative case study) research strategy is employed. The cases were selected based on the notion that they represent a subset of a larger set of post-socialist democratic polities with very similar transformational trajectories although different in a range of historical, cultural, and geopolitical aspects. All selected cases experienced a relatively painful transformation of social, political and economic institutions. However, the success of these transformations varies across these cases. Also there is a substantial variation in the strategies of reforms, pace of changes and extent of public and elite support for the changes.Particular electoral practices and their correlation with distinct institutional and media environments are examined by combining macro-level contextual data with micro-level data. The conclusions about the degree of professionalization, the impact of the ongoing mediatization of electoral politics, the variety of campaign styles and the consequences of these changes in the nature of political campaigns for electoral democracies in post-socialist countries and worldwide are drawn.The study provides empirical support for an argument that rapid development of political markets in post-socialist polities is not an anomaly of post-socialist transformation, but, rather, is a reflection of the radical changes that are being faced by the modern democratic polities. The study suggested potential dangers caused by spread of modern political marketing techniques. This problem is even more acute in post-socialist countries than in established democracies. These countries have not inherited the robust system of democratic guarantees in the form of institutions or traditions. The effects of adaptation of modern forms of political institutions functioning could be much more unpredictable.

This dissertation consists of two papers. The first paper examines the propagation of firm-specific shocks as well as market-wide shocks between 1995-2003 using Treasury and corporate bond market data. It then tests the implications of previously proposed models of contagion. I find little support for the industry and counterparty structure hypothesis, suggesting that fundamentals do not generate contagion. Consistent with the information transmission, rebalancing, and liquidity-shock hypotheses, I find evidence of flight to quality during the event periods. However, in contrast to the prediction of the liquidity-shock channel, the corporate bond market, on average, seems to be more liquid during event periods (evidenced by higher trading volume, trading frequency, and mean bond age). Furthermore, there are no significant changes in the trading of assets with the low transaction costs, which is contrary to the rebalancing theory. These findings are more in favor of the correlated information channel as a means of inducing contagion.The second paper examines the effect of liquidity on corporate bond prices using the newly formed TRACE data set. In the spirit of Acharya and Pedersen's (2005) liquidity-adjusted capital asset pricing model (LCAPM), I examine the impact of multiple sources of risk on corporate bond prices. The results do not lend strong support for the existence of liquidity risk in the corporate bond market or for the LCAPM, especially when liquidity is captured using the trading frequency, trading volume, and turnover. Contrary to the predictions of the LCAPM, more illiquid portfolios do not have higher values for the three liquidity betas; betas that capture the commonality in liquidity with the market, the sensitivity in returns with the market-wide liquidity, and the liquidity sensitivity with the market returns. Furthermore, after running cross-sectional regressions I do not find strong evidence either for the validity of the model or that liquidity risk does matter for the corporate bond prices.

I investigate the trading decisions of a large institutional liquidity trader by using a detailed data set from a transition management firm. The data set contains records for all trades of transitions completed between January 2008 and September 2008. Effective execution involves a trade off between trading patiently over time to minimize price impact costs and trading quickly to avoid opportunity costs due to price volatility. I estimate a model of transition duration that accounts for volatility, an order's percentage of average daily volume, and the bid--ask spread to uncover the firm's strategy of how quicklyto trade. To understand the firm's intermediate trading decisions, I estimate a vector autoregression that summarizes the dynamic relationship of volatility, trading volume, the bid--ask spread, and order type and order duration. My analysis suggests that the firm behaves strategically to minimize the total costs of trading.

The Japanese labour market is analyzed within a dual labour market context and an emphasis on firm size differentiation. Labour market segmentation theories are presented for the purpose of understanding the differences that can exist between industries, or in this case, between firm sizes. Data on labour market variables such as wages, unionism, and promotion illustrates the different employment package that employees face in small firms as compared to workers in large companies. Unique Japanese labour market traits such as the expectation of lifetime employment, enterprise unionism, and seniority-based wages are also observed to evaluate their application in different company sizes. Japan's labour market segmentation is primarily a study of differences between firm sizes. The dissimilarities in employment characteristics between small and large firms are thoroughly examined and evaluated for a solid understanding of Japan's duality in the labour market.

This thesis uses a comprehensive data set to examine the relationship between Canadian labour market outcomes and several changes in the policy environment. The data set, spanning the period 1981-98, is compiled from a number of comparable surveys and contains information on the demographics and job characteristics of individual workers. The first chapter examines the impact that the tariff reductions of the Canada- U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA) had on the inter-industry wage structure in the goods producing sector. Previous studies use industry-level data and consequently are unable to control for either differences in worker composition or divergent wage trends for different worker types. These studies find that tariff cuts either had no effect or increased the relative wages of workers in impacted sectors. In contrast, I use data with information on worker characteristics and find that the relative wages of non-union workers in impacted industries decreased. The second chapter investigates the link between the CUSFTA tariff reductions and several labour market outcomes that are potentially linked to industrial productivity. In particular, I examine whether tariff reductions are related to changes in the (i) the size of firm a worker is likely to be employed with, (ii) the probability that a worker will be represented by a union, and (iii) the mean skill level of workers. Although I find evidence that these outcomes have changed over time, none of them seem to be linked directly to CUSFTA. The final chapter, co-authored with David Green, examines the extent to which the declining market outcomes of successive cohorts of job entrants in Canada can be accounted for by changes in the minimum wage, unionization rate, and industrial composition of employment. A flexible density estimator is used, which allows for a comparison between cohorts across the entire wage distribution. The main findings are that for males, changes in unionization and industrial composition can account for about a quarter of the decline in wage outcomes for new job entrants between 1998 and 1981. Similar results are found for females; in addition, the minimum wage provides a "wall" against further erosion for more recent cohorts of entrants.

Modern Jerusalem has developed against a background of conflict between the European powers and the Ottoman Empire, between Jews and Arabs, and between religious and secular Jews. These conflicts have fragmented the urban fabric and have created a city of ethnically segregated enclaves. The thesis investigates this urban condition through detailed study of a particular institution, Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda Market. Since its foundation at the end of the nineteenth century, the market has undergone numerous transformations as the city grew and the conflict evolved but, throughout, it has remained a rare place of cultural and economic exchange between otherwise separate communities. The cosmopolitan character of the market suggests a more hopeful alternative for the city and the region, but this character is threatened by changing circumstances. Persistent sectarian tensions continue to encourage increased segregation and, at Machane Yehuda, the problem is compounded by a severe lack of infrastructure, which restricts the market’s ability to operate in the face of increased economic competition and the redevelopment of the surrounding area. In response to these operational requirements, a new logistics terminal is proposed for Machane Yehuda. By ensuring the market’s economic viability, the terminal will sustain an institution that encourages coexistence in the centre of Jerusalem.

Participating in the growing research stream involving the market orientation-performance relationship, this investigation explores the impact of firms’ planning, implementation, and evolution of market orientation on financial performance. A longitudinal approach is used to capture the formation and evolution of market orientation. Evidence of market orientation as depicted in top management’s stated strategy is assessed through content analysis of 150 SEC filings (S-1s and 10-Ks) of seventy-five initial public offering (IPO) firms. The sample covers companies that went public in the years 2001-2003, and the study spans a six-year period from 2001-2007. Customer and competitor orientation are independent variables tested to predict stock return. Moderator variables of firm size, top-management-team (TMT) heterogeneity, services or manufacturing industry, and industry competitive intensity are tested in a series of regression analyses. The study involves a unique combination of features in that: 1) the market orientation of top management is captured; 2) the market orientation formation and evolution is captured; 3) secondary archival data is used in the analysis; 4) objective performance measures are utilized; 5) data from multiple industries is analyzed; 6) factors that moderate the market orientation performance relationship are studied. Contributions of this study are that it: 1) builds on the work of Gebhardt, Carpenter and Sherry (2006) using longitudinal analysis to capture the dynamic nature of the market orientation; 2) establishes evidence of variation of the market orientation across time; 3) examines the division of market orientation as separate constructs of customer and competition; 4) provides insight about important moderators of the relationship; 5) moves literature towards a foundation for a more general theory of market orientation by providing some further evidence of the construct’s relation to financial performance. Results of regression analysis provide support for customer orientation leading to superior financial performance. Significant moderator variables in this relationship include manufacturing vs. service firms, top-management-team (TMT) heterogeneity, and firm size. Unexpected results are found for competitor orientation and some moderator results are not significant.