Darvas, Z. & Hüttl, P. (2015) “Why a Grexit is more costly for Germany than a default inside the euro area – Contrary to the IFO institute, we conclude that German losses on both official and private claims would be much higher if Greece exits the euro“, Bruegel Institute, 16 January. A few days ago the influential IFO Institute published a short paper suggesting that a Greek default inside …Read More
Zoning out – Why leaving the euro would still be bad for both Greece and the currency area, The Economist, 17 January 2015. In 2012 Greece held two elections which might have led to its exit from the euro zone. In the event, that was avoided—a good thing since the costs of a “Grexit” would almost certainly have outweighed any gains, not only for Greece but for the entire …Read More
Darvas, Z. & Hüttl, P. (2015) “How to reduce the Greek debt burden? – There are options to reduce the net present value of Greek public debt servicing costs by more than 15 percent of GDP without incurring losses on creditors, Bruegel Institute Analyses, 09 January. The Greek debt reduction issue has been put back on the table as the 25 January 2015 parliamentary snap elections are approaching. Already in …Read More
De Grauwe, Ρ. (2015) “Debt relief for Greece is necessary to avoid a crisis in the Eurozone“, LSE EUROPP, 12 January. On 25 January Greece will hold parliamentary elections. The elections have generated uncertainty in the Eurozone given the potential for the radical left party Syriza, which has called for a renegotiation of the country’s bailout conditions, to emerge as the largest party. Paul De Grauwe writes that even …Read More
Mitchell, B. (2014) “Greece – two alternative views“, Bill Mitchell Blog, Modern Monetary Theory… Macroeconomic Reality, 24 December. When I was in Europe recently, I had interesting discussions about the future of Italy, Greece and Spain with various people, particularly in relation to trying to understand the apparent dissonance between the strong support for the euro and the devastation that membership of the common currency has created in these …Read More
Mason, P. (2014) “Greece election: opposition party’s main enemy will be time“, Channel 4 News, 21 December. There’s a quiz doing the rounds on Facebook about Greece’s radical left opposition party Syriza, called “Are You Syriza Enough?”. The last question is: “Do you think Syriza will succeed as a government?”. The choice of answers are not flattering to the far left party’s prospects: No, No way, Haha No, or …Read More
Davison, R. (2014) “Despite a looming political crisis, Greece is no longer the threat to the Eurozone that it was in 2012“, LSE EUROPP, 22 December. The Greek parliament is due to hold a second round of voting on 23 December to elect the country’s next president, following an unsuccessful vote last week. Remy Davison writes that while the threat of a political crisis is very real, the situation …Read More
Pisani-Ferry, J. (2014) “How to climb a mountain with both hands tied“, VoxEU Organisation, 07 November. A triple-dip recession in the Eurozone is now a distinct possibility. This column argues that additional monetary stimulus is unlikely to be effective, that the scope for further fiscal stimulus is limited, and that some structural reforms may actually hurt growth in the short run by adding to disinflationary pressures in a liquidity …Read More
Knight, D., (2014), “A Critical Perspective on Economy, Modernity and Temporality in Contemporary Greece through the Prism of Energy Practice”, Hellenic Observatory GreeSE Paper, N.81. During the Greek economic crisis a focus on energy practice highlights the temporal complexities of local coping strategies. Re-launched in 2011, the European Union supported solar energy initiative encourages installation of futuristic, high-tech photovoltaic panels on fertile agricultural land. Entangled with intricate notions of neo-colonialism …Read More
Kosmidis, Spyros, (2013), “Government Constraints and Economic Voting in Greece”, Hellenic Observatory of the European Institute at the LSE, May. Incumbent parties in Southern Europe experienced losses in their electoral support that came along with a series of economic reforms imposed by the EU and the IMF. However, recent theories of accountability would predict lower levels of economic voting given the limited room left for national governments to manoeuvre the …Read More
