Working Papers

Iliopoulos, P., & De Witte, K. (2023). The Expenditure Composition and Trade-offs in Local Government Budgets (Discussion Paper DPS 23.17; Discussion Paper Series, p. 53). KU Leuven, Department of Economics.

Abstract: The fiscal behavior of local governments has gained significant attention from academia and policymakers due to decentralization reforms transferring power from central to lower levels of government. As local governments assume more responsibilities for public goods and services, understanding their expenditure composition and trade-offs becomes crucial. While existing literature has examined the factors influencing the size of local government budgets, less attention has been given to the decision-making mechanisms and trade-offs within budget allocations. This study investigates the expenditure composition of 300 Flemish municipalities, using an unsupervised clustering algorithm and a binary logistic regression framework. Our results are indicative of how local governments tend to prioritize specific policy areas in the design of their budgets, when they operate under strict institutional and fiscal constraints such as a balanced budget rule. We observe that municipalities prioritizing social care for the elderly allocate fewer resources to education, mobility, and environmental initiatives. Municipalities emphasizing administration services, mobility, safety, and social services sacrifice both care services for the elderly and have reduced budgets for primary education. The budget composition patterns are influenced by the age structure and ethnic diversity of local communities and the politico-ideological position of electorates. 

Gouzoulis, G., Iliopoulos, P. (Takis), & Galanis, G. (2023). Financialisation, Underemployment, & the Disconnected Greek Capitalism (Working Paper No. 112; Centre for Globalisation Research Working Papers, p. 25). Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management.

Abstract: Recent contributions within the disconnected capitalism literature argue that personal financial insecurity related to household indebtedness and pension fund financialisation is positively associated with underemployment. This is because financially insecure workers are more likely to accept worsening working conditions on the fear of losing their job and defaulting. Using quarterly data from the Eurostat for the period 2008Q3-2020Q4, this paper shows that the persistent rise of underemployment rates in post-crisis Greece is robustly associated with the household debt ratio and pension fund investments in financial derivatives. We also demonstrate that while the effects of financialisation are similar for men and women, the employment-tied and gendered nature of social benefits in the country has disproportionately induced underemployment for women in the context of austerity. The paper concludes that personal financial insecurity is a key missing factor behind rising employment precariousness in Greece since 2008. 

Gouzoulis, G., Iliopoulos, P., Galanis, G. (2022): EU-induced Financialisation and Its Impact on the Greek Wage Share, 1999-2021, GLO Discussion Paper, No. 1209, Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen.

Abstract: This paper examines the determinants of the income share of wage earners in the nonfinancial, private sectors of Greece since its introduction to the Eurozone in 1999. The main outcome of the integration of Greece into the Eurozone has been the financialisation of its economy, which has been particularly influential for households since it led to the rapid rise of household indebtedness. Building on recent research within industrial relations, sociology of work, and political economy, which shows that financialisation is a key driver of wage bargaining outcomes, we demonstrate that the relative size of the FIRE sectors and the increase in household debt have been negative drivers of the wage share in Greece over the last 22 years. Our findings also suggest that the employment-tied social benefits system and tertiary education provision have also been important determinants of workers’ income share.

Iliopoulos, P., Galanis, G., Kumar, A., & Popoyan, L. (2020). The Power of Sectoral Geographical Centrality in Global Production (No. 2020/12; LEM Working Paper Series). https://www.lem.sssup.it/WPLem/2020-12.html

Abstract: Power is a key component in understanding and analyzing global production and the governance structures of Global Value Chains. In this paper, we propose a novel analytical link between the power dynamics in GVCs and the network configuration of their respective production topology. Our proposed link is based on the notion of positional power according to which power is associated with the centrality of a sector with regards to the production process, the sector belongs to. Using global input-output data, we show that the network structure of global production is associated with the global distribution of profits among national economic sectors and, consequently, influences the power relations and thus the governance structures of supply networks. More specifically, we find a high correlation between the distribution of profits and a sectoral position in global production, captured by its total strength centrality. Based on this, we provide a quantitative measure of positional power within global production and its governance structures.