Krugman, P. (2014) “Mad as Hellas“, The New York Times Opinion Pages, 11 December. The Greek fiscal crisis erupted five years ago, and its side effects continue to inflict immense damage on Europe and the world. But I’m not talking about the side effects you may have in mind — spillovers from Greece’s Great Depression-level slump, or financial contagion to other debtors. No, the truly disastrous effect of the …Read More
Walsh, J. (2014) “Is the Greek economy improving?“, The Guardian, 27 November. The Greek government is keen to trumpet the country’s improved economic outlook, as the country exits recession for the first time in six years. But is any improvement being felt by people on the ground? After a six year slump, Greece finally came out of recession earlier this month. But are there any signs of an improving …Read More
Mitchell, B. (2014) “Greece – return to growth demonstrates the role of substantial fiscal deficits“, Bill Mitchell Blog: Modern Macroeconomic Theory – Macroeconomic Reality, 19 November. We had news this week that the annual rate of real GDP growth in Greece is finally positive after two quarters of positive growth. The austerity merchants are out in force congratulating themselves on a victory. Some victory. What the official data doesn’t …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
Louri-Dendrinou, Ε. (2014) “Economic and financial changes since the onset of the global and euro area crises“, LSE EUROPP Blog, Greece: Taking Stock, 06 November. With the introduction of the euro and the mispricing of sovereign (Greek) risk, a flux of funding inundated Greece and helped fuel an impressive growth rate (averaging 4%) in 2000-2008. Growth, combined with low inflation since monetary policy was managed by the European Central …Read More
David Einhorn on Pireus Bank: now I know what He thinks, ViennaCapitalist Blog, 05 November. I am grateful to reader IAthinker who commented on my recent Pireus bank post providing a link to David Einhorn’s presentation he gave at the recent Robin Hood conference, an annual gathering of Hedge Fund managers. At the conference, Einhorn reiterated his bullish stance on Pireus and Alpha bank, two of the biggest banks in Greece. As regular readers know, …Read More
Afonso, A., Zartaloudis, S. & Papadopoulos, Y. (2014) “How party linkages shape austerity politics: clientelism and fiscal adjustment in Greece and Portugal during the eurozone crisis“, Journal of European Public Policy, 29 October. Drawing on an analysis of austerity reforms in Greece and Portugal during the sovereign debt crisis from 2009 onwards, we show how the nature of the linkages between parties and citizens shapes party strategies of fiscal …Read More
Afonso, A., Zartaloudis, S. & Papadopoulos, Y. (2014) “Lower levels of clientelism in Portuguese politics explain why Portugal handled austerity better than Greece during the crisis“, LSE EUROPP, 27 October. Greece and Portugal were two of the worst hit countries by the Eurozone crisis, yet the domestic political reaction within each state was notably different. While in Greece there were difficulties agreeing to austerity policies and the party system …Read More
Konstandaras, N. (2014) “Greece’s Economic and Political Traps“, The New York Times Opinion Pages, 26 October. Five years into the Greek crisis, it is becoming increasingly difficult to hope that it will end anytime soon. Perhaps we expected too much: that the largest international bailout in history would help set the economy back on its feet within a couple of years; that we could put the problems that had …Read More
“Greece’s shadow economy: The treasures of darkness“, The Economist, 10 October. Getting Greeks to pay more tax is not just hard, but risky TWO out of three Greek workers either understate their earnings or fail to disclose them to the taxman altogether, according to Stephen Hall, an adviser to the Bank of Greece. Last year an estimated 24% of all economic activity in Greece went undeclared to evade tax …Read More
