Papers by Alexander Apostolides
η κυΠροσ τοΝ έικοστο αιΩΝα: κρατοσ, κοιΝΩΝια και οικοΝομια Γ ́ Ημερίδα Ιστορικού Αρχείου Τράπεζας Κύπρου, 2016
Η οθωμανική Τράπεζα εισήλθε στην οικονομική ζωή της νήσου κατά την προσπάθεια μεταρρύθμισης της ο... more Η οθωμανική Τράπεζα εισήλθε στην οικονομική ζωή της νήσου κατά την προσπάθεια μεταρρύθμισης της οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας. Η έλευση της τράπεζας ήταν καταλυτική για την διεθνοποίηση της κυπριακής οικονομίας, καινευραλγική για την εμπορική ζωή του τόπου μέχρι και την αποχώρησή της απότην Κυπριακή αγορά το 1969. δυστυχώς η συλλογική μνήμη των Κυπρίων προςτο ρόλο της τράπεζας έχει διαβρωθεί. Μια τυχαία φωτογραφία στο βιβλίο “Old Nicosia Revealed” στο facebook μας ώθησε να δουλέψουμε το καλοκαίρι του 2014 και συλλέξαμε στοιχεία για την οθωμανική Τράπεζα στην Κύπρο, τα οποία παρουσιάζουμε στην ανακοίνωσή μας αυτή. Όμως υπάρχει ακόμη μεγάλη ανάγκη για περαιτέρω έρευνα. διαγράφοντας μια πορεία 105 χρονών, ηοθωμανική Τράπεζα και ο ρόλος της θα πρέπει να ερευνηθεί εις βάθος.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2023
The Green Line divides the island of Cyprus, and despite the existence of the Green Line Regulati... more The Green Line divides the island of Cyprus, and despite the existence of the Green Line Regulation, regulating commerce and crossing, the digital divide between the communities creates obstacles to payments and thus greater economic interaction. ‘Citycoin’ is a conceptual framework that seeks to evaluate if creating a payment infrastructure can be socially beneficial and potentially profitable. ‘Citycoin’ as conceptually presented here, is a payment rail created using a stablecoin, allowing for the reduction of obstacles to digital payments across the Green Line. By removing the high cost of transactions and providing the missing part of the necessary infrastructure to support full and unencumbered economic activity, ‘Citycoin’ can provide a significant increase in trade, especially in the areas near the Green Line, which have been traditionally more disadvantaged by the conflict. This can be especially true if the initiative is supported by the two municipalities of Nicosia, who have a track record of successful cooperation. The article estimates the volume of current transactions as well as suggesting how in practical terms this concept can take form in the island of Cyprus.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013
The situation in Cyprus arose due to banking overreach, insufficient regulation, excessive gove... more The situation in Cyprus arose due to banking overreach, insufficient regulation, excessive government deficits, poor debt management and collateral damage from previous Eurogroup bailouts The amount needed is small in absolute values, but large relative to the size of the economy. The Troika was unwilling to fund more than 10bn Euros. Extreme delay from the departing Christofias government and persistence from the Troika led to the bailing-in depositors to cover the gap. An attempt to spread the pain by suggesting a "shares-for-deposits swap" for all Cypriot depositors, (bailing-in even insured depositors) was defeated in the Cypriot parliament. In subsequent negotiations, insured depositors were unharmed: uninsured depositors in the largest two Systemically Important Financial Institutions, Laiki Bank and Bank of Cyprus were affected Local debt default and forced rollover are part of the bailout, but as it currently stands, holders of external debt are to be paid in full. The exception is the Russian Federal Republic direct loan to Cyprus: the agreement is conditional it being restructured. As a result of the above actions, Cyprus is left facing an unprecedented economic depression; the link between weak financial institutions and a weak state has not been broken, making a second bailout very likely. Cyprus has capital controls, deteriorating financial situation and needs to defend itself against local and domestic lawsuits that might overturn decisions. Cyprus is still dangling precariously from the Euro exit cliff.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2012
This article presents the major results of the first attempt to create historical national accoun... more This article presents the major results of the first attempt to create historical national accounts for Cyprus and Malta. It constructs the first detailed estimates of output at aggregate and sector levels, enabling the analysis of economic growth and tracing structural change. The islands" performance is evaluated within the context of wider economic change in Europe"s South Eastern periphery, suggesting that their economic growth was slow in comparison, despite both Cyprus and Malta being far less exposed to the political upheavals of the First World War. However, the ultimate reasons for their comparatively weak growth performance differed: Cyprus experienced a prolonged agricultural crisis, but participated in the post-depression recovery through the rapid expansion of the copper mining industry. Malta"s growth was slower than Cyprus due to the combination of declining British military expenditure and accelerated demographic growth. These differences notwithstanding, the islands were ultimately affected by common problems. Their small overall size had a negative effect on their performance as global protectionism increased and restricted export opportunities. An important negative determinant for growth during the interwar period was their size, which in combination with the islands" status as British colonies, made autarkic policies prohibitive.
This article presents the major results of the first attempt to create historical national accoun... more This article presents the major results of the first attempt to create historical national accounts for Cyprus and Malta. It constructs the first detailed estimates of output at aggregate and sector levels, enabling the analysis of economic growth and tracing structural ...
Capital Markets Law Journal, 2013
Cyprus has dominated the news across the world since the early morning of 16 March, when the Euro... more Cyprus has dominated the news across the world since the early morning of 16 March, when the Eurogroup and the recently inaugurated President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, agreed to a rescue deal that would include the bail-in of uninsured and insured depositors in all Cypriot financial institutions. 1 The bailout Cyprus needed (for government debt expiration, projected government deficits and for financial system support) was calculated then as E17 billion. The Troika of the European Commission (EC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) were willing to fund E10 billion, which is a big amount relative to the size of the economy of Cyprus (56 per cent of GDP in 2012).
The overall objective of the paper is to evaluate the growth performance of Cyprus during the int... more The overall objective of the paper is to evaluate the growth performance of Cyprus during the interwar (1921-38) period. Pamuk and Williamson (2000) assure us that with the exception of Mandated Palestine, the economic performance of Mediterranean states was poor. In order to evaluate the performance of Cyprus, we construct Gross Domestic
We would like to thank the Cyprus center of the peace research institute OSLO (PRIO) for the oppo... more We would like to thank the Cyprus center of the peace research institute OSLO (PRIO) for the opportunity to conduct this research, as well as those who financed it: the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. We received extremely useful feedback from the participants at the “Cyprus peace dividend revisited” conference organized by the PRIO Cyprus center in Brussels in March 2014, which we have incorporated into the report. These comprised senior business leaders from both communities, who represent the major sectors and some of the largest companies on the island. Since the conference was conducted under the Chatham house rule, we do not name them here but make a special mention of the person who brought in some of the key participants. We would like to thank the peer reviewers, Ayla Gurel, senior researcher at the PRIO Cyprus center and economists George Markides, Michalis Florentiades, Symeon Matsis and Charis Michail for their excellent feedback. sp...
About the Book: This book was made possible by the NGO Support Centre, Cyprus, under the auspices... more About the Book: This book was made possible by the NGO Support Centre, Cyprus, under the auspices of the EuropeAid project “Knowledge Makes Change” which aimed to develop capacity and raise awareness in Cyprus about the Millennium Development Goals. The project and its effective management by the NGO Support Centre has positively improved communication between academia and NGOs in Cyprus, and has, for the first time, given prominence to the notion of development cooperation in the public arena of Cyprus.
During the interwar period Cyprus faced a small deficit, yet the inflexibility of the colonial fi... more During the interwar period Cyprus faced a small deficit, yet the inflexibility of the colonial finance structure created a political impasse. As a result the disagreements between the Colonial government and the Cypriot elected members of the islands legislative assembly sparked violence against the regime. Such violence would not have been possible if the already aggrieved political and economic situation allowed those with nationalistic agenda to undermine the legitimacy of the colonial regime. Although the traditional argument indicates that the 1931 riots were a purely nationalistic act, the disagreements of the colonial government and the actions of the leaders of the largest communities have to be understood within the sense of increasing crisis caused by the continual fall GDP. At the same time, the political situation was paralysed to react in a severe economic depression in part due to the disagreements between the Governor and the colonial office in London on one hand and ...
This thesis explores the macro-economic history of Cyprus and Malta in the inter-war period. It c... more This thesis explores the macro-economic history of Cyprus and Malta in the inter-war period. It constructs the first detailed estimates of output at aggregate and sector levels, enabling the analysis of economic growth and the sector structure of the islands‟ economies. It evaluates their performance within the context of economic change on Europe‟s South Eastern periphery and, specifically, in light of the experience of British colonial rule. The thesis argues, first, that economic growth was slow in wider European comparison and as sluggish as in neighbouring countries. It was so despite the two islands' being far less exposed to the political upheavals of the First World War than most other economies in South Eastern Europe. Second, the proximate reasons for their comparatively weak growth performance differed: Cyprus experienced a prolonged agricultural crisis, but participated in the post-depression recovery through the growth in international demand for the output of its c...
This paper evaluates the impact of the rapid growth of mining on the Cypriot economy during the p... more This paper evaluates the impact of the rapid growth of mining on the Cypriot economy during the period 1921-1938, with special focus on the expansion of copper sulphate mining. During this period the industry was transformed by companies such as the Cyprus Mining Corporation (CMC) and this affected the whole economy and society. The island was for the first time inundated with substantial foreign direct investment, which encouraged technological adaptation and altered labour relations; as such there has been a debate on how beneficial was mining for the economy at that time. Using substantial primary data we estimated output (GDP share), employment and productivity estimates for the mining industry, as well as profit estimates for the foreign mining firms through the use of a counterfactual. The data allows us to argue that mining was very beneficial in increasing labour productivity and earning foreign exchange, but also highlights that the economic and social benefits for the econ...
This paper explores the macro-economic history of Cyprus in the inter-war period. It constructs t... more This paper explores the macro-economic history of Cyprus in the inter-war period. It constructs the first detailed estimates of output at aggregate and sector levels, enabling the analysis of economic growth and the sectoral structure of the island’s economy. It evaluates its performance within the context of economic change on Europe’s South Eastern periphery and, specifically, in light of the experience of British colonial rule. The thesis argues, first, that economic growth was slow in wider European comparison and as sluggish as in neighbouring countries. It was so despite the island being far less exposed to the political upheavals of the First World War than most other economies in South Eastern Europe. Cyprus experienced a prolonged agricultural crisis, but participated in the post-depression recovery through the growth in international demand for the output of its copper mining industry. The colonial government remained committed to balanced budgets and non-intervention in t...
The study objective is to examine the current state of economic interdependence between the Greek... more The study objective is to examine the current state of economic interdependence between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots on the island, and to present recommendations. Economic Interdependence was defined as economic transactions across the ceasefire lines, including trade, movement of people, expenditure and other types of cooperation.The research found that economic interaction across the Green Line is more significant than previously thought and was estimated at over Euros 300 million in 2009, but also that the present political situation imposes constraints on such trade.
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Papers by Alexander Apostolides