The Dark Side of the Crisis: Disparities in per Capita income (2000–12) and the Urban‐Rural Gradient in Greece

Abstract

The present study investigates changes (2000--12) in the spatial distribution of per capita income in Greece assessing how economic expansion and recession shape regional disparities in a traditionally-divided country. Descriptive statistics, multivariate techniques and spatial analysis have been carried out to identify clusters of Greek regions with an homogeneous development path. Results outline how the gap between wealthy and disadvantaged regions consolidated with economic expansion (2000--07) strengthening the centrality of medium-size urban areas, industrial and tourism-specialised districts. Recession (2008--12) has widened the gap between Athens and the rest of Greece, while mitigating the disparities in per capita income between rich and poor regions. This evidence seem to contrast with literature indicating how dynamic regions came to be less exposed to recession than economically-disadvantaged regions. The 2008--09 crisis stimulates a rethinking of the geography of socio-economic disparities in highlydivided countries, pointing out how expansion and recession differently impact the spatial distribution of wealth.

Rural Districts between Urbanization and Land Abandonment: Undermining Long-Term Changes in Mediterranean Landscapes

“…In the latter circumstance, this phenomenon can be also associated with infrastructural development leading to construction of the high-speed railroad linking Athens to Patras [94]. In this regard, fallow land can also be defined as land reservoir awaiting both cultivation and speculation linked to urbanization and infrastructure development [90,91].…”

“…Fallow land assumes the role of land stock for different functions: (i) crop rotation, seasonal use of land and mixed farming [54,67,84]; (ii) more intensive crops for high-value farming systems where fallow land can be considered as set-aside area [84,89]; (iii) pastoral purposes, fertilizing land and mitigate pervasive effects of agricultural intensification [85,86]; and (iv) abandonment of agricultural land, under prospective urban and tourism use [80,[90][91][92]. Fallow land can positively impact biodiversity and agro-ecosystem quality, allowing a multifunctional land-use and income diversification [81].…”

Urban growth, population, and recession: Unveiling multiple spatial patterns of demographic indicators in a Mediterranean City

“…The period between 2000 and 2014 included a phase of economic growth and dispersed urban expansion driven by 2004 Olympics (2000–2007), followed by a time interval (2007–2014) characterised by economic recession (Rontos et al, ), “austerity urbanism” (sensu Peck, ), increasing poverty and social disparities (Salvati, ). Similar research approaches contrasting socioeconomic dynamics during expansions and recessions has been presented in earlier studies (Salvati et al, ).…”

Economic convergence in ageing Europe

“…Both events affected the process of economic convergence making the period very interesting to study (Borsi and Metiu, 2015;Dall'Erba et al, 2008;Doran and Jordan, 2013;Ertur et al, 2007;Fingleton et al, 2012). The uneven impact of the economic crisis across Europe is of particular importance for convergence: the catching up East-European regions seems to recover rapidly while the falling behind South-European regions are the most stricken with the economic crisis (Salvati, 2016;Salvati and Carlucci, 2016) (Figure 2 Not only the features of regional economic development make the study period interesting for analysis, the demographic settings are also unusual. During the study period, the main difference in the share of the working-age population in Europe lied between post-communist countries and the rest of Europe (Figure 3).…”

“…This depends on differences in the levels of the share of the working-age population between economically advantageous and lagging-behind regions. For example, if the share of the working age population is relatively low in poor regions, convergence in ageing helps to reach economic convergence because the advantage of the rich regions due to population age composition declines (Salvati, 2016). In contrast, if the share of the working age population is relatively high in poor regions with low productivity, convergence in ageing may slow down economic convergence, as it eliminates one of the poor regions' resources for faster economic development, i.e.…”