THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE LOAN PROVIDING FUNDS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES DURING THE RECENT FINANCIAL CRISIS

Chrysanthi Balomenou

Hellenic Open University,

e-mail: hjlp6543@hol.gr, balomenou@tutors.eap.gr

Marianthi Maliari

Hellenic Open University,

e-mail: mmaliari@otenet.gr, mmaliari@ate.gr

Abstract

This work attempts to examine the consequences of the crisis on enterprises and on banks, to study enterprises’ problems related their access to fundsability, to examine the phenomenon of corruption in Greece especially in state banks, to highlight the problems and inefficacies of local enterprises and finally to focus on the economic lag and underdevelopment in all the local economic sectors in Regional Unity of Serres. As regard as the empirical research, it deals with the data extracted from a questionnaire addressed to local entrepreneurs. The results are analysed with the help of the methods of descriptive statistics and correlations. The research main conclusion is that the reduction of the funds provided by the banks to the market resulted in the deterioration of the recession. It is worth referring to the fact that the statistical data extracted from the empirical research are similar to those deduced from the results of the researches that have been referred to in bibliography.

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LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICIES AND TOURISM. AN APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY AND CULTURE

Margherita Pedrana

Assistant professor in Applied Economics

European University of Rome

E-mail: margherita.pedrana@unier.it

Abstract

The economic development of an area has been largely discussed in literature. It is linked to the economic structure and resources of a territory. Moreover, also infrastructure and investments may affect the local economic development. Tourism is an economic activity in which visitors move to an area to visit a particular destination. Tourism has different purposes and may also be complementary to other local economic activities.

As all economic activities which affect the development of an area, also tourism has to be managed on routes and specific context. The role of tourism is important in the context of local economic development. Public institutions have to be aware of the capacities of an area and try to help its development. However, if not well managed the local resources may be destroyed by tourist. A local tourism policy towards sustainability is indispensable for the future development of an area.

This paper is organized as follow. The first part will analyze the role of tourism in local area. Subsequently, a model of local economic development and its application on tourism is investigated. Latter, the role and implications for local policy of sustainable tourism are shown. Finally, some conclusions and policy implications are drawn.

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FINDING UNDERLYING FACTORS USING THE INDEPENDENT COMPONENT ANALYSIS ON LABOUR MARKET – APPLICATION ON UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN MONTHLY VARIATION

Cristina LINKARU
National Institute for Science Research in The Field of Labour and Social Protection- INCSMPS, Romania, e-mail: cristina.lincaru@yahoo.de

Vasilica CIUCĂ
National Institute for Science Research in The Field of Labour and Social Protection- INCSMPS, Romania, e-mail: silviaciuca@incsmps.ro

Speranţa PÎRCIOG
National Institute for Science Research in The Field of Labour and Social Protection- INCSMPS, Romania, email: pirciog@incsmps.ro

Draga ATANASIU
National Institute for Science Research in The Field of Labour and Social Protection- INCSMPS, Romania, email: incsmps1@incsmps.ro

Abstract
Independent Component Analysis ICA is “a method for finding underlying factors or components from multivariate (multidimensional) statistical data”. Considering that the specific of this method is “that it looks for components that are both statistically independent and Non-Gaussian, we try to apply ICA method on labour market data. Following the methodology presented by Hyvärinen, Karhunen, Oja (2001) on the problem” cashflow of several stores belonging to the same retail chain, trying to find fundamental factors common to all stores that affect the cash flow” we apply on analysing the unemployment rates, seasonally adjusted, in monthly variation at EU27 level between January 2000-September 2011. The data source is EUROSTAT, indicator [une_rt_m]: „Unemployment rate, monthly average, seasonally adjusted data, total (%), resulting 141 months/cases. Orginal mixture data are pre-processing in the stage of Pre-whitened using Principal Component Analysis PCA, with NIPALS algorithm and for ICA the FastICA Algorithm from STATISTICA 8.0 Software.
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