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The Greek Tragedy
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The Greek Tragedy

CESifo Forum Special Issue

Hans-Werner Sinn
CESifo Group Munich, 2015
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Scientific
  • Background

Recommendation

Greece is far from a solution to its ongoing fiscal morass. Economist Hans-Werner Sinn outlines how, despite massive financial rescue missions, the Greek economy has deteriorated. He contests Greek arguments that the rescue package went solely to pay off euro-zone creditors and excoriates the government for, among other failures, not implementing the critical structural reforms that would help restore the country’s competitiveness and allow it a reprieve from the crisis. Sinn expertly presents one side of a multifaceted story, but some readers may find his tone, at times, somewhat brusque and dismissive. Though always neutral, getAbstract recommends this dense and detailed analysis to euro watchers everywhere.

Summary

The troika of the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank has, as of late March 2015, allocated Greece credits of €325 billion [approximately $360 billion] to save its tottering economy. But despite the aid package’s kick-start to domestic demand in 2013 and 2014, Greece in 2015 is in recession. Between the first quarters of 2010 and 2015, Greece’s real GDP declined by 21%, and industrial production fell by 10%. Unemployment has soared from 11% to 26% over the same time period; roughly half of young people not in school are out of work. The nation has not made...

About the Author

Hans-Werner Sinn is a professor at the University of Munich and president of the Ifo Institute.

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