Civic engagement plays a prominent role in sustaining a strong civil society and a vibrant democracy. However, it is a complex multidimensional concept, taking multiple forms and encompassing a variety of behaviours and actions related to both political and social aspects. Drawing on the relevant literature the paper attempts to clarify and pinpoint the notion, specifying its dimensions and mapping out its determinants. Then, focusing on university students, it moves to examine youth civic engagement in Greece, examining the extent of their civic participation and its determinants. After controlling for sociodemographic factors it finds that interpersonal trust, religiosity and political ideology affect students’ likelihood to be civically engaged.

This paper examines whether or not there is convergence in defence burdens across the world. To this effect, σ -convergence and β -convergence methodologies are employed. The sample consists of 128 countries and covers the period 1988–2008. Initial findings reported herein point to a process of convergence in defence burdens possibly reflecting the emergence of defence policies that share similar characteristics at least in terms of the allocation of resources.

Urban green space constitutes a crucial element of all cities. It affects the overall physical and built environment of the city, making cities attractive places not only to their own citizens, but also to external visitors and investment. In this respect, urban green space may have a role to play for economic development in terms of improving the quality of urban life, building a desirable 'city image' and advancing the position of the city in respect to its competitiveness. This article draws on a questionnaire survey conducted in 11 European cities in order to explore positions and perceptions with regard to urban green space. Emphasis is given to issues related to the economic aspects of urban green, including an evaluation of the demand for urban green and its importance for economic development. The survey explores attitudes towards alternative uses of urban green space and addresses the – critical for land use policy – issue of financing its provision, maintenance and expansion.

The present paper examines whether Airbnb listing prices differ significantly between ‘casual’ hosts and hosts with multiple listings, regarded as professionals. To this effect the Airbnb apartment market in Athens (Greece) is used as a case study. Drawing on a sample of about 3.500 Airbnb apartments listed in May 2017, the study employs, first, typical hedonic price modelling to assess the determinants of listings’ price of both groups, and then it uses the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition methodology to examine whether there is a price gap between casual and professional hosts, the characteristics that cause this price gap and their relative contribution to it. The research finds a statistically significant difference in the Airbnb pricing between casual and professional hosts, where about a half of the price gap is attributed to the ‘better’ listings that professionals manage (in terms of size, availability of amenities and locational attributes), and a half to the different reaction hosts have towards specific Airbnb characteristics. In particular, professionals value higher (i.e. place more trust on) the Superhost badge issued by Airbnb as an institution, whereas casual hosts place trust on (and price accordingly) the evaluations provided by the guests.

The paper employs Zipf’s law to examine the distribution of military spending across countries in the world over the period 1988–2012. Military spending can cautiously be treated as a crude and distant proxy for military capacity and strength, and hence states’ hard power. The paper finds that the first-in-rank country (the USA) consistently spends more on the production of military capabilities than what is projected by Zipf’s law to correspond to a balanced international structure. This, tentatively interpreted, implies the use of military strength (and the concomitant costs for acquiring it) as a tool of hegemonic status consolidation, perhaps vis-à-vis other rising global players. In turn, the countries at the lower end of the rank, although they have overall increased their military outlays, seem to spend less on defence than this is anticipated by the law. This finding may be pointing to free-riding on the military strength of allies and other major powers.