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Quantitative economic policy models aim at social welfare maximization. Their basic ingredients are an objective function and a constrained structure.[1] The former reflects preferences of decision makers and is well-known as a social preference function. The latter consists of an econometric model and a set of boundary conditions on the arguments of the preference function and/or the econometric model. It is the task of economic advisors to estimate (specify) the constrained structure and optimize the preference function subject to it. Upon completion of their job, economists submit their findings to policy makers for further action.
The present paper belongs to this category of policy models and follows the works of Fox et al. (1966), HANSEN (1967), THEIL (1964), and TINBERGEN (1965). The empirical analysis is concerned with the case of Greece because of the author's acquaintance with issues pertaining to limitations, priorities and in general the functioning of that economy.
Economic policy makers in underdeveloped and/or developing economies in general, and in Greece in particular, are confronted with a serious obstacle: the so-called degrees-of-freedom problem. In brief, given the development stage of the economy and the administrative difficulties associated with it, the number of variables directly controlled by policy makers falls short of the number of targets to be fulfilled. Consequently, instead of requiring the targets to be reached exactly, as in the fixed targets case, decision makers may have to be satisfied to have them achieved as near as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the influence of Plato and Platonism on the development of physical education in Western culture. The intellectual orientation of Western culture towards physical education and the body emanates from two opposing ideas of physical education fashioned by Greek culture. Each idea of physical education was the end product of a specific world view. The antiphysical concept of man found its definitive expression in Platonic anthropology and its fundamental doctrine of the degradation of the body. Because of Plato's ambivalent attitude towards the body and its treatment, physical education scholars have been selective in their borrowing from his writings. The history of physical education may, from one point of view, be understood as the history of man's concepts of the body and of the practical outcomes to which these concepts have led him. To conclude, the metaphysical dualistic tradition is the most decisive event in the history of physical education and Plato has become the symbol of the betrayal of the body in Western culture.

The article presents information on the funeral games of Homeric Greeks. Funeral games were not exclusively Greek, nor were the games honoring Patroclus the first such Greek affair. Games were used to entertain guests, to honor returning heroes, and to make public exhibitions more pleasant to the common people. Over a period of many years sport eventually became a means of worshipping deities. It was as an expression of religious devotion that sport reached its greatest height. Participants in the funeral games which Achilles, a Greek warrior called to honor his friend and companion, Patroclus, who had been slain on the field of battle, were either aristocrats, leaders of an army, or their sons. The warriors had a brief respite from the perils of war and desired not only to honor their fallen comrade but also to lift their mourning spirits through the enjoyment of competition. Only the well-to-do entered the events because the contests demanded the skills of a leader in the army. In each event Achilles presented a valuable prize to each contestant. The intrinsic worth of the item was of considerably less importance than the honor of winning it.

The Dark Age of Greece was the gestation period of Greek culture and the incubation of the Mediterranean way of life. Greek colonization of the west, based on grains and wine, was the earliest specialized Mediterranean basin. Innovations were made in the arts, shipbuilding and bulk commerce, military tactics, the spread of iron, The use of waterproof plaster, and the use of the olive for food. Perhaps any period of cultural florescence is the result of germination in earlier, possibly unnoted, times. Depressions may be necessary to progress, because they provide a release from bureaucratic paralysis, and permit talented individuals to experiment with innovations. Innovations occur in politically fallow periods, and the spectacular events which fascinate historians are not conductive to human progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the distinction made by the philosopher Thomas De Quincey between rhetoric and poetics. Features of rhetorical theory and poetical theory in ancient Greece; Inconsistencies in De Quincey's conception of rhetoric; Features of the distinctions made between science and literature by De Quincey.

Examines the state of literature, particularly interpretative reading, in contemporary Greece. Significance of the art of reciting in ancient Greece; Comparison between literature recitation in modern Greece and in ancient Greece; Background on folk literature in Greece.

This article focuses on the results of a field survey conducted to find out control of family size in Greece. The birth rate in Greece has been declining since the early 1930's, following a temporary increase as a consequence of a mass immigration of refugee population after the end of the war with Turkey in 1923. A similar, or even faster decline, is shown by the crude death rate and the infant death rate. While it is easy to account for the decline in mortality in view of the better nutrition of the population, the virtually complete eradication of malaria and the effective control of most infectious diseases after the war, the ways and means by which the reduction in fertility was brought about are by no means clear. On the other hand, two demographic factors, the rise in the age at marriage for both men and women and the narrowing down of the effective reproductive period for women, to the age group 24-35 years, in which 50 per cent of all births occur, have a direct bearing on the decline in family size. Thus the median age of brides has risen by more than one year in the past 25 years, and the median age of women giving birth is now 28.0 instead of 29.6 years.

The article discusses the implication of several contemporary planning problems in the community development in Greece. It is evident that problems can be the basis or the springboard towards a successful planning. The government may examine these problems and establish approaches in solving and preventing these from happening again. This is true because it is essential that similar attitude should be more widely adopted to ensure that more realistic plans are being prepared considering the conditions and resources available.

The article reflects on the developments pertaining to open resistance of Greek universities on the military rule in Greece. The police measures continue when two university professors were exiled in remote mountain towns because of alleged resistance activities. The author asserts that everybody could get along a great deal better if esthetics is restored to a place of honor and pay more heed to philosophic ideals.

The article reflects on various articles covered within the issue. In the first article, G. Alan Stull and Guy Lewis discusses the funeral games of the Homeric Greeks taken from the earliest extant document containing descriptions of what is now called competitive sport. In one of the articles, John R. Fairs identifies a portion of the Greek intellectual milieu and its impact on physical education. In an another article, John R. Fairs identifies a portion of the Greek intellectual milieu and its impact on physical education. Jan Broekhoff has discussed chivalric education in the middles ages.