European Union Failures in Greece and Some Possible Explanations

Bitros, George C.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-10043-2_1

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In Bitros (2015) I criticized the laxity with which EU leaders and institutions treated Greece 31 During the period 1954-1974 Greece achieved: high economic growth rates (≈ 7%), enviable price stability (<2.5%), which enhanced the international competitiveness of Greek products and services and maintained the balance of payments under manageable control, enviable reduction of unemployment (<2.5%), improvement and expansion of social services, and all this with very limited public debt (<12.5% of GDP in 1974). 32 After 1974, the average annual growth rate fell to about one third (≈ 2.4%), the unemployment rate, which more than doubled in the period 1980-2000 (≈ 6%), in the decade of 2000 nearly quadrupled (≈ 9%), the explosive deficits in the balance of pPayment were contained only thanks to the huge EU aid, and the budget deficits pushed public debt to an unsustainable ratio (≈ 150% of the GDP in 2011).…”

Section: Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Germany and Greece: A Mapping of Their Great Divide and Its EU Implications

Bitros

2017

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The economic constitutions of Germany and Greece have resulted in the postwar period in two economies that are based on two vastly different philosophies. Germany has built a highly competitive, outward looking economy based essentially on the principles of the so-called "Social Market Economy", whereas Greece has set up a "state-managed economy" by drawing on the principles of central planning and administrative controls. This divide is equally stark, if assessed on the basis of the performance of the two economies. For, as it is known by now, Germany has become once again the powerhouse of Europe while Greece has gone bankrupt. As to the implications of this great divide for the future of the EU, its identification and mapping helps understand why convergence criteria on the basis of economic performance and living standards should be abandoned in favor of criteria based on the widening and deepening of the four European freedoms. A multispeed Euroland enmeshed in these freedoms is going to be more democratic, more cohesive and a much happier union for the European citizens to call homeland. JEL Classification: E02, F02, P51, H1, L5

show abstract

Section: Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Germany and Greece: A Mapping of Their Great Divide and Its EU Implications

Bitros

2017

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, from the nature of the austerity measures that Greece and the other countries in question were forced to adopt more recently, we understand that their governments dragged their feet, or even invented ways to postpone adjustment in the direction envisioned by the treaties that were enacted. Greece, in particular, not only procrastinated systematically at introducing the required structural reforms, but as documented by Bitros (2014), it introduced policies that rendered the structure of its economy in the 2000s even worse than it was back in the 1960s.…”

Section: Critical Integration and Emu Shocks In The Peripheral Eu Coumentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It will need time to restore the trust of the Greek people in the institutions of public governance in Greece -and even more. 1 1 Drawing on the data and the analysis that Bitros (2014) presented recently, EU leaders and institutions failed to foresee the unintended consequences of their actions in the case of Greece. For several possible reasons, they underestimated the risks that were involved in admitting Greece as a full member of the EEC in 1981 and in the…”

Section: Institutional Shocks and Discredited Public Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

Economic crisis in the European periphery: An assessment of EMU membership and home policy effects based on the Greek experience

Bitros

Batavia

Nandakumar

2016

The North American Journal of Economics and Finance

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Our objective in this paper is threefold. First, to identify the major common shocks that hit these countries upon entry into the EMU. Second, taking Greece as our case study, to construct a simple macroeconomic model of the policies Greek governments pursued in the presence of these shocks, and to employ its solution so as to highlight the outcomes that were expected to result. From this endeavor, we find that the policies which were put in place led unavoidably to a severe economic crisis and eventual bankruptcy. Finally, in view of these findings and what happened in 2009,we raise and attempt to answer questions like, for example: How can we explain the policies that were adopted in the advent of monetary union shocks? Could they have been anticipated? And if so, why did they escape the attention of the designers of the Maastricht Treaty? The answer to which we are led by the analysis is that the shocks in all these countries were perceived by their governments as opportunities to hold on to their entrenched positions. That this happened, we conclude, reflects a failure in the mechanisms of economic convergence that were embedded in the Maastricht Treaty as well as in the effectiveness of European Union (EU) institutions that were empowered with their enforcement. JEL Classification: E3, F15 F16, F32, F36, H62, H63 L16Key Words: Economic crises, economic integration, balance-of payments deficits, budget deficits and indebtedness, structural imbalances. George C. Bitros is Emeritus Professor of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business. He is the corresponding author for this paper and he can be contacted at bitros@aueb.gr. † Bala Batavia is Professor of Economics, DePaul University, Chicago, USA, and his e-mail is bbatavia@depaul.edu. ‡ Parameswar Nandakumar is Emeritus Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, India, and he can be reached at nanda7285@yahoo.com.

show abstract

Individual-Level Evidence on the Causal Relationship Between Social Trust and Institutional Trust

Daskalopoulou

2018

Soc Indic Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The study accounts for the presence of endogeneity in the interdependence between social and institutional trust. Using Greece as a case study we provide valuable insights regarding the bidirectional nature of this relationship and its sign. Consequently, more accurate results might be provided regarding the determinants of both types of trust and the way in which these may be discerned in a given society. We use microdata extracted from the European Values Surveys (2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) and instrumental variables techniques. Social trust is constructed as a three-item scale variable comprising generalized trust, fairness and helpfulness. The institutional trust variable is constructed as the sum of seven variables referring to trust in political institutions, civil security institutions and, supranational political institutions. In line with the hypothesis formed here, the results indicate the presence of endogeneity in the social and institutional trust interrelationship. When accounted for, this endogeneity entails different results as regards the sign of the effect that institutional trust exerts upon social trust, which turns from positive to negative. The study contributes to the limited empirical knowledge regarding the micro level two-way causal relationship between social trust and institutional trust. The study's findings provides us with a more informative and accurate picture of the underlying dynamics of building trust in a society. Important research and policy level issues draw from these findings.

show abstract

European Union Failures in Greece and Some Possible Explanations

Cited by 4 publications

References 8 publications

Germany and Greece: A Mapping of Their Great Divide and Its EU Implications

Germany and Greece: A Mapping of Their Great Divide and Its EU Implications

Economic crisis in the European periphery: An assessment of EMU membership and home policy effects based on the Greek experience

Individual-Level Evidence on the Causal Relationship Between Social Trust and Institutional Trust

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About