Who’s to Blame for Greece?

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Theodore Pelagidis, Michael Mitsopoulos

      Pages 1-3

3. The “Party Period” before the Crisis

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 5-5

      PDF

   2. The Costs and Benefits for Joining a Common Currency with Emphasis on Weaker Member States: The Pre-Crisis Debate

      • Theodore Pelagidis, Michael Mitsopoulos

      Pages 7-24

   3. Greece before the Crisis: The Critical Years in Domestic Politics

      • Theodore Pelagidis, Michael Mitsopoulos

      Pages 25-55

   4. IMF and EU Reports on Greece

      • Theodore Pelagidis, Michael Mitsopoulos

      Pages 56-89

4. Greece’s Free Fall 2010–2013

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 91-91

      PDF

   2. The Troika Period Reconsidered

      • Theodore Pelagidis, Michael Mitsopoulos

      Pages 93-116

   3. Assessing the Intentions of the Government(s) since the Ratification of the Maastricht Treaty

      • Theodore Pelagidis, Michael Mitsopoulos

      Pages 117-152

5. Looking Ahead

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 153-153

      PDF

   2. Greece: Why Did the Forceful Internal Devaluation Fail to Kick-start an Export-Led Growth?

      • Theodore Pelagidis, Michael Mitsopoulos

      Pages 155-194

   3. Giving Greece a Chance to Succeed

      • Theodore Pelagidis, Michael Mitsopoulos

      Pages 195-204

   4. How to Design a Closer and More Democratic Union

      • Theodore Pelagidis, Michael Mitsopoulos

      Pages 205-217

   5. Conclusions

      • Theodore Pelagidis, Michael Mitsopoulos

      Pages 218-224

   6. Afterword

      • Theodore Pelagidis, Michael Mitsopoulos

      Pages 225-227

6. Back Matter

   Pages 228-236

   PDF

Greece's economy symbolizes in many ways the Eurozone's economic problems and divergent interests as it amasses most of the economic disadvantages characterizing the Eurozone's economy itself. This book presents the economic and political challenges to Greece and the EU member states.

• Greece
• Eurozone
• IMF
• ECB
• Monetary Union
• Financial crisis
• political economy
• economics
• The European Union
• EU
• crisis
• European Union (EU)
• growth
• labor market
• macroeconomics
• monetary union
• money
• public finance
• trade

'The new book by Michael Mitsopoulos and Theodore Pelagidis offers insightful analysis of the Greek drama. It makes fascinating reading and well demonstrates that the blame is widely shared.'

André Sapir, University Professor, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, and former Economic Advisor to the President of the European Commission

'Who is to blame for Greece? If I could pick just two experts on the Greek debacle to answer this question it would be Theodore Pelagidis and Michael Mitsopoulos. And thankfully they have done just that in this penetrating analysis of what has happened to Greece over the past five years. It's a timely and incisive work and no one gets off easy a must read.'

Landon Thomas, Jr, Financial Reporter, New York Times, USA

'With their customary mix of political savvy and sound economic analysis, Pelagidis and Mitsopoulos separate truth from myth in the great debate about the causes of the Greek crisis. As usual, no one is spared: Greece's leaders before the fall, its official creditors since 2010 and the chaotic SYRIZA-led coalition all get their fair share of the blame for the still-unfolding disaster.'

Yannis Palaiologos, author of The 13th Labour of Hercules

• Brookings Institution, USA

  Theodore Pelagidis

• University of Piraeus, Greece

  Theodore Pelagidis

• Boston University, USA

  Michael Mitsopoulos

• Hellenic Federation of Enterprises, Greece

  Michael Mitsopoulos

Theodore Pelagidis is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, USA, and Professor of Economics at the University of Piraeus, Greece. He has also been a NATO scholar at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, USA; an NBG fellow at the London School of Economics, UK; and a Fulbright professorial fellow at Columbia University, USA. He also has served as an expert to the International Monetary Fund in the Independent Evaluation Office, USA.

Michael Mitsopoulos holds a PhD in Economics from Boston University, USA. He is an economist at the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises, Greece, and has taught at the University of Piraeus and the Economic University of Athens, Greece. He has published extensively in academic journals and is the co-author with Pelagidis of Understanding the Crisis in Greece: From Boom to Bust (Palgrave, 2011) and of Greece: From Exit to Recovery? (2014).

Policies and ethics