Search results

Data on illegal migration to Greece have recently become available from the Greek Employment Observatory. This article presents some descriptive characteristics of the migrants, including country of origin, marital status, education, age, profession and place of residence. It also provides an analysis of migrants' choice of location within Greece.The majority of illegal migrants are manual or unskilled workers seeking employment mainly in the agricultural sector or in urban areas. There is substantial differentiation between males and females in terms of age, education, marital status and profession. In a limited sense, the data provide support for the idea of "feminization" of migration flows.Large flows of migrants are directed to the urban centres but migration as a proportion of county populations is not higher for the big urban centres (Athens and Thessaloniki) than for others.Migrants' choice of place of residence are not affected by the rate of unemployment. Males are attracted to areas with significant agricultural production and females to urban centres. Females are willing to travel longer distances in order to find employment, but for males distance is an insignificant factor. Per capita gross domestic product is an important factor only when migration flows are measured as a proportion of the population.Although the analysis does not justify strong policy statements, it indirectly provides some basis for arguing that allowing or tolerating illegal migration is not the best policy from the point of view of national interest.

This article examines the flow of migrant remittances from Germany, Belgium, and Sweden to Greece. The statistical analysis uses the following determining factors: migrant's income, family income, the rate of interest, the rate of inflation, the exchange rate, the rate of unemployment, and the number of migrants. The results of this study reaffirm some earlier results of other studies, but they differ in some respects. An attempt is also made to detect cohort effects on the propensity to remit, and the evidence is that such effects do exist.

In a recent paper (1994) in this journal, Elias L. Khalil makes two claims. First, he contends, the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall is not unique to the capitalist mode of production but it is equally valid in a socialist economy. Second, a decline in the rate of profit in a socialist economy would engender crises as would be the case in a capitalist economy. Even more, he argues that crises would be necessary in any social form if there is a secular tendency of the organic composition of capital to rise.

This is an empirical paper that reports estimates of some basic marxian variables for the Greek manufacturing sector for the period 1960-1983. It is shown that the organic composition of capital follows an increasing trend while the rate of surplus value and the rate of profit fluctuate with no apparent trend. It is also shown that the productivity of labor varies more than the wage rate.

The paper presents a synthesis of Marx's views on the rate of interest as they appear in Capital. It explores the relationship between the rate of profit, the rate of profit of enterprises and the rate of interest. It attempts to unify Marx's comments on the demand for and supply of money capital in a framework that relates the movements of the rate of interest to those of income and production.