Bastian, J. (2014) “Is there (sustainable) growth in Greece?“, MacroPolis: Greece in Perspective, 19 November.
Greece finally exited its six-year long recession in the third quarter of 2014. The Hellenic Statistical Authority ELSTAT said that the economy grew by 0.7 percent in the third quarter (compared to the same quarter in 2013). The positive third quarter reading is the first after 24 consecutive quarters of negative GDP performance dating back to Q3 2008 (see chart below).
Still, the economic damage from this recession is staggering. It will take years – perhaps even decades – to bring Greece’s real economy back to the levels last achieved in 2007.
Thus, some reflections about the state of play of the country’s economic prospects are warranted. A mixed picture is emerging, moving between positive sentiment indicators and higher car sales numbers being counterbalanced by news about sliding land prices in the Attica region and a continuous decline in construction activity.
Relevant posts:
- Dollar, D., Kleineberg, T. & Kraay, A. (2014) “Growth, inequality, and social welfare: Cross-country evidence“, VoxEU Organisation, 19 November.
- Mitchell, B. (2014) “Greece – return to growth demonstrates the role of substantial fiscal deficits“, Bill Mitchell Blog: Modern Macroeconomic Theory – Macroeconomic Reality, 19 November.
- De Neve, J. E. & Norton, M. (2014) “Busts hurt more than booms help: New lessons for growth policy from global wellbeing surveys“, VoxEU Organisation, 08 October.