Project Members

Anastasia Litina: Anastasia Litina is an Associate Professor at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece, and also holds a position as an Extramural Research Fellow at the University of Luxembourg. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Macedonia, spent a semester as a visiting scholar at Brown University, and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Luxembourg before joining the faculty in Greece. Her research focuses on both theoretical and empirical analyses of long-term growth determinants, exploring how cultural factors—such as corruption, religiosity, and environmental attitudes—impact socio-economic outcomes. She also studies the social effects of population aging and the enduring influence of historical events on present-day economic and social conditions. Her publications appear in leading journals including the Economic Journal, Journal of Economic Growth, Journal of Development Economics, Harvard Business Review, World Development, and others. According to IDEAS, she ranks among the top 3% of female economists and the top 4% of economists overall based on publications from the past decade. Anastasia has been principal investigator on numerous research projects funded by Greek, Luxembourgish, and EU sources. Her work has been recognized with awards from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the University of Macedonia. She is also actively involved in organizing academic conferences and workshops, including leading key events in her field (more details here: https://www.anastasialitina.com/ )

Despina Gavresi: Despina Gavresi is a Research Associate at the University of Macedonia, an Extramural Research Fellow at the Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna and a Managing Editor at the Cambridge Elements in Law, Economics and Politics. Previously, she was a short-term visiting scholar at the Luxembourg Income Study Cross-National Data Center and she worked as a Research Associate at the University of Luxembourg and as a Research Assistant at the University of Macedonia. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Dept. of Economic Sciences at the University of Ioannina. Her research spans between Applied Macroeconomics and Micro-Data Analysis, Institutional and Cultural Economics, Demographics and the Historical Persistence. She has published papers in the Journal of Comparative Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Kyklos, and in the Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population. She has presented at numerous international conferences, workshops and invited seminars. Her research aims to better understand how socio-economic crises, historical events, and cultural factors shape societies, helping to inform policies that promote resilience, inclusion, and social cohesion across Europe (details here: sites.google.com/view/despinagavresi). 

Sofia Tsitou: Sofia Tsitou is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Macedonia and an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Ioannina, Greece. She is also a Research Fellow at the DAISSy Research Group of the Hellenic Open University. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Ioannina, where she also completed her undergraduate and master's studies, with her doctoral research focusing on human capital and regional economics. Her research interests lie at the intersection of human capital, regional development, economic growth, economic history, and applied macroeconomics and microeconomics. Sofia has contributed to multiple national and European research projects on topics such as the socio-economic effects of COVID-19, digital education, and historical population exchanges. She has published in journals such as the Journal of Population Economics and has co-authored chapters in international handbooks and conference proceedings. She has presented her work at several international conferences and workshops and is an active member of the research community, with experience in both teaching and project coordination (more details here: https://sites.google.com/view/sofiatsitou/home ).

Ioannis Patios: Ioannis Patios is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at the University of Macedonia, currently in his third year of Ph.D. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Ioannina and two Master’s degrees: one in Accounting and Auditing from the Technological Educational Institute of Western Macedonia, and another in Law and Economics from the University of Macedonia. His research interests lie in corruption and cultural economics, shaped by his studies in both economics and law. His doctoral training has provided him with solid foundations in macroeconomics, microeconomics, and econometrics, along with expertise in evaluating economic models and applying empirical methods to policy-relevant questions. Ioannis has presented his work at several conferences and workshops, including ASREC, AMEF, the IOEA Spring School, and interdisciplinary conferences on gender and equality. 

Apostolos Ioannis Martis: Apostolos Ioannis Martis is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at the University of Macedonia, Department of Economics, under the supervision of Prof. C. Constantatos. He holds a Master's degree and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Macedonia. He has participated as a research associate in several projects on competition, regulation, and environmental economics, and his research focuses on industrial organization, competition policy, and environmental economics. He has presented his work at international conferences such as AMEF and CRETE, and also served as a referee for Economic Modelling. He has teaching experience as a teaching assistant in Industrial Organization and Public Economics, and his skills include game theory, mathematical modeling, and proficiency in Stata, R, Python, and Mathematica. His current work in progress explores data purchase and third-degree price discrimination in duopoly markets.

Akylas Mytilinaios: Akylas Mytilinaios is an economist with a strong focus on applied economics and finance, currently completing his MSc in Economic Science at the University of Macedonia. His thesis explores the long-term effects of natural disasters, reflecting his broader interest in the intersection of economic shocks, institutions, and social resilience. He holds a BSc from the same university and has worked as a research assistant on projects examining macroeconomic shocks, populism, and historical population movements. His expertise includes econometric modeling (e.g., VAR, ARCH–GARCH), portfolio theory, and the global financial cycle, and his research interests extend to cryptocurrencies, sustainability, and comparative development. Proficient in tools like STATA, R, and QGIS, and fluent in Greek and English, Akylas brings a blend of technical skill and interdisciplinary insight to his work.