Greek regional productivity at the period of the economic crisis: obtaining information by using Shift-Share analysis

The productivity level of a regional economy is associated with regional competitiveness reflecting indirectly the prosperity level of the region’s inhabitants. Under this context, this paper studies the differences in regional productivity in Greece, by using a version of the Shift-Share analysis. The analysis is conducted on data on regional productivity, on added value and labor employment, in different economic sectors, concerning records of the period 2005-2010 that include the former to the Greek economic crisis period 2005-2008 and the initiative to the crisis period 2009-2010. The further purpose of this paper is to examine the decomposition of regional productivity among the economic sectors and thus to illustrate the contribution of regional productivity by sector to the welfare map of the country. The Shift-Share analysis allows evaluating the differences of the regional labor productivity from the respective national by decomposing it into structural components and produces some interesting conclusions associated with the Greek economic crisis.