Beyond Austerity

Beyond Austerity

Reforming the Greek Economy

Edited by Costas Meghir, Christopher A. Pissarides, Dimitri Vayanos and Nikolaos Vettas
Prominent economists present detailed analyses of the conditions that made Greece vulnerable to economic crisis and offer policy recommendations for comprehensive and radical change.
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Summary

Prominent economists present detailed analyses of the conditions that made Greece vulnerable to economic crisis and offer policy recommendations for comprehensive and radical change.

More than eight years after the global financial crisis began, the economy of Greece shows little sign of recovery, and its position in the eurozone seems tenuous. Between 2008 and 2014, incomes in Greece shrank by more than 25 percent, homes lost more than a third of their value, and the unemployment rate reached 27 percent. Most articles on Greece in the media focus on the effects of austerity, repayment of its debt, and its future in the eurozone. In Beyond Austerity: Reforming the Greek Economy, leading Greek economists from institutions both within and outside Greece, take a broader and deeper view of the Greek crisis, examining the pathologies that made Greece vulnerable to the crisis and the implications for the entire eurozone.

Each chapter takes on a specific policy area, examining it in terms of Greece's economic reality and offering possible directions for policy. The topics range from macroeconomic issues to markets and their regulation to finance to the public sector. Individual chapters address the costs and benefits of participation in the eurozone, Greece's international competitiveness, taxation, pensions, the labor market, privatization, product markets, finance, education, healthcare, corruption, the justice system, and public administration. The contributors argue that Greek institutions require a deep overhaul rather than quick fixes to enable long-term growth and prosperity.

Hardcover

$75.00 X ISBN: 9780262035835 728 pp. | 7 in x 9 in 121 figures

Editors

Costas Meghir

Costas Meghir is Professor of Economics at Yale University.

Christopher A. Pissarides

Christopher A. Pissarides, 2010 Nobel Laureate in Economics, is School Professor of Economics and Political Science and Regius Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics.

Dimitri Vayanos

Dimitri Vayanos is Professor of Finance at the London School of Economics.

Nikolaos Vettas

Nikolaos Vettas is Professor of Economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business and General Director of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE).

Endorsements

  • The best Greek economists extract the lessons of the Greek tragedy. A must read for anyone interested in the economics and politics of structural reform.

    Luis Garicano

    Professor of Economics and Strategy, London School of Economics; author of El dilema de España

  • A remarkable book. Going beyond slogans and superficial pronouncements, Beyond Austerity offers an in-depth, dispassionate analysis of what has happened and, more importantly, what must and can be done to return Greece to health.

    Olivier Blanchard

    Fred Bergsten Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics; Robert Solow Professor Emeritus, MIT

  • A brilliant account of the institutional rigidities that led to the Greek crisis and of the solutions to put Greece back on a sustainable growth path. Combining frontier empirical analysis with economic theory at its best, the authors have produced a must read for anyone interested in the relationship between institutions and macroeconomic performance, and in growth and stabilization in the eurozone.

    Philippe Aghion

    Professor, Collège de France and London School of Economics

  • A comprehensive analysis of the Greek economic condition with a far-reaching reform agenda designed to put the economy back on track. A landmark study for anyone interested in the Greek economy and in the modern approach to economic reform.

    Richard Blundell

    Ricardo Professor of Political Economy, Department of Economics at University College London; Director, ESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy, Institute of Fiscal Studies.