Title of the research project
“Public investment, economic crisis and austerity: evidence from the Greek regions”
Summary
This aim of this research project is to provide statistically supported evidence on the evolution of public investment in Greece during the current economic crisis and to indicate how regions of the country have been affected by spending cuts. Public investment has been the core research topic of the author. However, this research project expands on his previous work and aims at the study of the regional distribution of public investment in times of economic crisis. There are very important reasons to look at public investment during the economic crisis. Public investment is the most appropriate tool for counter-cyclical policy, and thus it would be very important for theory and policy to examine empirically how this tool has been used in public policy during the recent economic crisis. In addition, the evolution of public investment would promote an understanding of how austerity policy has impacted up on the economy of regions and on regional resilience. Finally, the disaggregation of total public investment into different types will provide the opportunity to examine the geography of spending cuts for different categories of public investment such as transport infrastructure, education, health and welfare, environment etc. This study will be based on a unique dataset containing public investment along with socio-demographic and economic data regarding the NUTS III regions in Greece during the period 2009-2015.
The MERSA grand had a tremendous influence on the maturity of my research and on the publications in established scientific journals. Through interactions and networking with colleagues and institutions this grant provided me the opportunity to receive valuable comments, suggestions and recommendations which enriched my thinking and opened new avenues for my research.