Greek Capitalism in Crisis

Dismantled Spatial Fixes in the Aftermath of Recession: Capital Switching and Labour Underutilization in the Greek Capital Metropolitan Region

“…This trend was mainly attributed to housing investments and the Olympic Games, while fixed asset formation related to infrastructure and newly built industrial plants were also important, though relatively limited (IOBE, ). Nevertheless, the intensity of investment activity in the secondary circuit clearly reflects the particular characteristics of the Greek growth model over the past four decades or so: a diachronic lagging of the primary circuit efficiency related to overaccumulation trends (especially since the early 1990s—see Mavroudeas, ); the necessity of infrastructure modernization under EU convergence conditions; and investment opportunities for the Olympic Games related to the euro‐currency financialization era. Such conditions shaped the country's employment prospects nationwide: construction became one of the fastest expanding sectors, while manufacturing labour figures stagnated.…”

“…This paved the way for capital switching. Overaccumulation trends since the 1990s (Mavroudeas, ), coupled with the impact of EU policies and the particularities of the domestic industrial model, have subsequently led to negative outcomes for Attica.…”

“…Regarding the geographical scale at which the above dynamics unfold, parts of academia interpret space as fragmented, paying most attention to the national level, hence the centrality of the state in their analyses (Kornelakis and Voskeritsian, ; Mavroudeas, ). Harvey proposes a more dialectical approach, where capital flows are central, without disregarding the role of the state, which is gradually being transformed through upgraded international and supranational institutions (Harvey, ) that are directly involved in the production of space and the regulation of commodity and labour markets.…”

Everyday politics of austerity: Infrastructure and vulnerability in times of crisis

“…Policies of strict fiscal discipline and severe cuts on public spending have been enforced in order to restore 'budgetary integrity' and the functioning of the market. Wages have been reduced by as much as 40 per cent since the start of the crisis, with the unemployment increasing from 13 per cent in 2010 to 28 per cent in 2013 (Mavroudeas, 2014). In addition, the informalization of the labour market has augmented the number of people who are only able to get casual or unpaid jobs (ibid).…”

The diverse regional patterns of atypical employment in Greece: Production restructuring, re/deregulation and flexicurity under crisis

“…quantitative and qualitative aspects of labor demand. A new political economy is accordingly established, deifying 'competitiveness' and anathematizing 'high labor costs' and 'traditional attitudes and structures' while pursuing profitability by sustaining uneven development (Dunford, 2012;Hadjimichalis and Hudson, 2014;Herod, 2009;Mavroudeas, 2014). In 1997, the European Employment Strategy addressed flexicurity as ''a policy strategy that attempts, synchronically and in a deliberate way, to enhance the flexibility of labor markets, work organization and labor relations on the one hand and to enhance security .…”