Agora
Posts in Economy
Energy Without Russia: The Case of Greece
Greece’s reliance on natural gas as a “transition fuel” left the country highly exposed to Russian energy imports on the eve of the Ukraine war. The efficacy with which the economy adapted to the energy crisis proved to be a valuable learning experience.
Contributor: Georgia Nakou
Categories: Europe (282), Economy (331), Greece (498)
Where are the Conservatives?
Kyriakos Mitsotakis won an impressive election victory in June 2023 to lead Greece for a second term as Prime Minister. He heads the New Democracy party (ND). Mitsotakis and ND profile themselves as “conservatives.” The main opposition parties, SYRIZA and PASOK, may be seen as “further left” (progressive) and “center left” (labor party), respectively.
Contributor: Bob Traa
Categories: Politics (387), Economy (331), Greece (498)
On monetary policy and inflation targeting
The setting. Consider two countries, A and B, that both aim to follow an inflation target, let us say 2 percent year-on-year (Y/Y) for the headline index of consumer prices (HICP).[2]
Contributor: Bob Traa
Categories: Economy (331)
Macroeconomic fundamentals for Greece
Countries can get caught up in the hamster wheel of daily noise. The cyclical ups and downs can become such a fixation that little else makes it onto the radar screen. Citizens then get a sense that the country goes around and round, without anything really changing over time (“…if only we had investment grade…”). Getting stuck in cyclical thinking is a trap.
Contributor: Bob Traa & Jens Bastian
Categories: Politics (387), Economy (331), Greece (498)
Does the EU Commission suffer from optimism bias? (Part 2)
In the previous blog we expressed concern that the European Commission may suffer from an optimism bias. We noted that the long-run outlook for real GDP growth in the EU27 as a whole appeared to be based on too-favorable labor productivity growth assumptions.
Contributor: Bob Traa & Jens Bastian
Categories: Europe (282), Economy (331)