Greece From Exit to Recovery?

Brookings Institution Press
June 2014

Two Greek economic analysts explain the Greek financial crisis—from beginning to end.

The first section of Greece: From Exit to Recovery? explores the lead up to to Greece’s adoption of the euro. Authors Theodore Pelagidis and Michael Mitsopoulos believe that the ensuing challenges were foreseeable. In fact, the authors posit that it was Greece’s difficultly in dealing with those challenges that sparked the euro crisis.

Section II analyzes discrete sectors of the economy, paying special attention to labor and finance—and the mistakes creditors made in focusing on reducing Greek incomes—rather than increasing competitiveness on non-labor costs.

Section III investigates why Greek companies spend relatively little on research and development. The authors’ analysis indicates that policy decisions largely determine R&D performance in the private sector, and they advance a number of specific policy proposals to improve the situation.