Thema Europa

Taxing Wealth and Only Wealth in an Advanced Economy with an Oversized Informal Economy and Vast Tax Evasion: The Case of Greece

Greece has the largest underground economy in the eurozone and one of the largest in Europe and the OECD countries. On the other hand, Greece is notoriously known for its sizable and widespread tax evasion primarily because of the large number of self employed and its wide geographical distribution. As documented by many studies, the two depend on a corrupted, inefficient and ineffective public administration. ...

Product Market Reforms in Greece: Unblocking Investments and Exports

While Greece’s poor record on investment and exports predates the crisis, the deep economic recession has made addressing long-standing weaknesses a priority. This paper takes a closer look at selected structural reforms that are critical for bolstering investments and exports in Greece. We investigate the areas of licensing, competition, professions, land use, and trade facilitation. In all areas ...

The Greek Economic Crisis, Labor Markets and Policies

The historic decision at the Euro Summit on July 12, 2015, to continue supporting Greece as a member of the EU and the euro family, provided Greece the chance to return to growth and sustainability, provided it takes the necessary steps to continue with its reforms. Jointly the Greek government with its partners (European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund), agreed ...

Greece in Economic Crisis: The Case of Health and Education

In 2010 the Greek economy entered a deep economic crisis. This was the result of an accumulation of structural problems in the economy, including overspending and loss of competitiveness during the previous decades, translating into persistently large budget and trade deficits. In 2015, under its third EU and IMF bailout, Greece has entered a spiral of depression that has led to its economy shrinking ...

The Greek Tragedy in the Health Sector: Social and Health Implications

Greece went into recession in 2009, after a decade of flourishing economic growth fluctuating annually around 4 percent; over the same period the average growth for theEU-27 was just about 2 percent. The economic downturn had a series of adverse effects on the economy and the health sector. More specifically, over the 2008–2015 period, GDP was reduced by 29.5 percent, wages were reduced by 35–45 percent, ...

The Impact of Public Investment on Private Investment in the Euro Area

This paper explores the long-term relationship between public and private investment in the euro area. A stock-flow approach is proposed to control for the integration properties of the variables. Panel econometric techniques including international spillovers are employed. Private and public capital stocks are cointegrated. However, the residuals from the stock equilibrium are not (trend) stationary, ...

The Greek Crisis, a Tragedy Without Catharsis?

Gesamtwirtschaftlich unbedeutend: Ostmitteleuropa und die EU-Sanktionen gegen Russland

EU-Einlagensicherung: Vorhandene Elemente verbessern

Deutschland braucht dringend neue Reformen