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This paper examines the degree of business cycle synchronicity among Greek regions and investigates the determinants of the business cycle co-movements of output associated with specific functional and spatial aspects of the integration process among the Greek regions. We analyse nearly 30 years (1980–2008) of data at the NUTSIII level (prefectures). We conclude that the business cycles of prefectures are more synchronized with the NUTSII regional cycle than with the national business cycle revealing a regional (NUTSII) border effect. Moreover, the intensification of the integration process seems to diachronically affect the structural characteristics of the Greek regions and the geography of cyclical synchronization. Our study reveals a two-stage integration process where in the first stage we detect the existence of urbanization economies, while in the second one the existence of localization economies. Furthermore, our study reveals that the metropolitan regions have a low level of business cycle synchronicity with the other regions, stressing Greece's pattern of economic and structural dualism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the policy implemented when it comes to establishing regional universities in a developed, yet semi-peripheral, EU country (i.e. Greece) and focuses on two central issues: whether regional universities contribute to local development and whether their location in the periphery harnessed their academic performance. The establishment of regional universities has become a widely used practice for facilitating regional development throughout the developed world, and the university's third role is quite widely accepted. The paper does not intend to question the policy of establishing regional universities itself, but rather the way these universities were established in Greece (as a case of a semi-peripheral regime) and possibly in other countries that are not in the forefront of international research. Regional universities in Greece were often established for clientelistic reasons; however, they do contribute in advancing local economic growth. These positive effects on the locality are often accompanied by a high cost for the Greek university and society itself, in the sense that regional universities have often been forced to operate under difficult conditions, thus undermining their fundamental mission (educational but primarily research). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]