Economic crisis and regional resilience: Evidence from Greece

Shift-share and input-output models are combined to explore the resilience of Greek regions to economic crisis. Model results indicate that rural regions are more resistant to recessionary shocks than urban regions. The analysis of the space-specific ability of sectors to withstand economic shocks portrayed the resilience of agriculture, while food industry, although its impact overtime declined, managed to increase its employment in seven out of thirteen regions. The tourism sector contracted but showed more resilience in the island regions than in the continental regions. The spatial heterogeneity in the effects of the recessionary shocks re-emphasizes the need for targeted and differentiated regional development policies.