Professor Vassilis Monastiriotis

Professor Vassilis Monastiritiotis is Eleftherios Venizelos Chair of Contemporary Greek Studies and Professor in Political Economy.

He joined the Hellenic Observatory in 2004, initially as Lecturer in the Political Economy of Greece and Southeast Europe. In 2013 he became Associate Professor of Political Economy at the European Institute, LSE, while maintaining my affiliation with the Hellenic Observatory. He was appointed to the Eleftherios Venizelos Chair of Contemporary Greek Studies in September 2023 and assumed the Directorship of the Hellenic Observatory upon its transition into the LSE Centre for Research on Contemporary Greece and Cyprus in September 2004. Prior to this, he was Director of the LSE Research Unit on Southeast Europe and Editor-in-Chief of the Hellenic Observatory’s GreeSE Papers. He holds a PhD in Economic Geography from LSE and BSc and MSc degrees in Economics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the University of Macedonia, respectively.

He has published widely in economics and regional science journals, including Oxford Economic Papers, the British Journal of Industrial Relations, the European Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Common Market Studies, the Journal of Regional Science, Regional Studies, Urban Studies, and others; while he has co-authored a number of policy reports and edited books. He has held visiting positions at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, Groningen University, the GeoDA Center, and elsewhere. He has received funding from the UK Economic and Social research Council, the British Academy, the Royal Geographic Society, the European Commission, and others. In 2008 he received the Moss Madden Memorial Medal in Regional Science. He is founding member of the LSE Research Unit on South Eastern Europe and holds affiliations with LSE’s Department of Geography and Environment and the Hellenic Observatory. He is Co-Editor of Spatial Economic Analysis, Committee Member of the British and Irish Section of the Regional Science Association, and member in various professional bodies.

Expertise

• Greece
• South East Europe
• UK
• European Union
• Macro-economic policy and performance
• Labour market policy
• Regional policy
• EU Cohesion Policy
• Growth
• Unemployment
• Wages
• Regional Disparities

Vassilis Monastiriotis' main research interests are on regional and national labour markets; regional and local socio-economic disparities; labour market policy; macroeconomic policy; and the political economy of reform. Geographically his research focuses on Southeast Europe (including Greece), Britain and the European Union. He has expertise in applied econometrics (panel-data, spatial econometrics, micro-econometrics) and applied Geographical Information Systems analysis.

His current research includes projects on EU Cohesion Policy and Smart Specialisation, Labour market adjustments post-crisis, the geographical determinants of regional convergence, overeducation and occupational sorting, and the impact of minimum wages in Greece. Broader research interests – and areas of PhD supervision – include topics such as The Political Economy of Reforms; The role of Industrial Policy for Economic Development; EU conditionality, Pre-accession and Economic Restructuring; Regional and National Labour Markets (performance, reforms, adjustments); Regional Disparities and Growth; and various topics in Applied Labour Economics.

Vassilis Monastiriotis has given numerous media interviews including for Bloomberg, BBC World, BBC News, Sky News, France 24, and others. He has participated in projects and public policy fora for the European Commission (DG Regio, DG EMPL, DG EAC, JRC), the British and Greek governments (UK Department of Trade and Industry, Greek Ministry of Finance, Greek Ministry of Labour, and others), various central Banks (Albania, Greece, North Macedonia) and international organisations such as the Regional Cooperation Council, the CEFTA Secretariat, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and others.