Agora
Posts on February 2015
A pause in uncertainty but for how long?
Is Friday’s agreement at the Eurogroup a good deal for Greece? In some respects it is but in more respects it is not. Above all, the four-month agreement leaves Greece walking an economic and political tightrope over the next four months without knowing what lies at the end of it.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Europe (279), Politics (374), Economy (316), Greece (478)
You've heard the Greek crisis myths, now here are some truths
There are certain truths about the Greek crisis. The main one is that Greece got itself into an utter mess by 2009. This came about as a result of two serious errors. Firstly, at a political and societal level there was an underestimation of the economic rigours of sharing a hard currency with more competitive and open economies, such as Germany and the Netherlands.
Contributors: Nick Malkoutzis, Yiannis Mouzakis
Categories: Europe (279), Politics (374), Economy (316), Greece (478)
Capital controls in Greece? A response to Professor Sinn
While capital controls might be an appropriate intermediate solution for Greece as argued by Professor Sinn in his recent Financial Times note, Professor Sinn misses or misrepresents the picture on a number of counts.
Categories: Europe (279), Economy (316), Greece (478)
Everybody be cool
It’s less than three weeks since the Greek government was elected and its Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has just taken part in his first Eurogroup – an experience that some of his predecessors have described as traumatic. Yet, a surprisingly large number of people appear convinced that Greece is heading for a showdown with the eurozone and may be counting its last weeks in the single currency.
Contributor: Yiannis Mouzakis
Categories: Europe (279), Politics (374), Economy (316), Greece (478)
What we've got here is a failure to communicate
Following a chaotic beginning to its first days in office, the SYRIZA-led coalition is beginning to settle into a more stable pattern in terms of its relationship with the eurozone. Those first, faltering steps have left a blot in the government’s copybook that it will be hard to erase over the coming days and weeks.
Contributor: Nick Malkoutzis
Categories: Europe (279), Politics (374), Economy (316), Greece (478)