“The important thing is for productivity to rise so that wages can increase,” Pagoulatos says. “During most of the crisis period, many of the gains in competitiveness from wage compression were canceled by other factors, such as the higher tax burden and social security costs, energy costs and cost of credit.” This caused thousands of companies to either close up…
Greece brain drain hampers recovery from economic crisis Angeliki Tziaka moved to the UK soon after the Greek government began cutting pensions and public sector wages in the first bailout programme agreed with international creditors in 2010. She felt the choice was clear: work abroad or risk a long spell of unemployment at home. “I’d recently graduated in medicine and…
George Pagoulatos, a professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business, says that in the end the country’s creditors may have to lower their expectations for how much Greece can save. He thinks lower surpluses plus better economic growth from the pro-business reforms could be the key to make debt sustainable. “It doesn’t mean that tax evasion has been…
Some observers wonder if those southern eurozone countries that were helped by Mr. Draghi’s activist policies would support Mr. Weidmann’s candidacy. “There will be a discussion that Weidmann represents a very hawkish view and one that would not be to the best interest of the southern economies,” said George Pagoulatos, a professor of European Politics at the Athens University of…
“There are clear signs of stabilisation and a gradual recovery,” George Pagoulatos, an economics professor at Athens University of Economics and Business, said. But analysts sounded a note of caution, despite the bond sale. “It’s the first market access since 2014 so it’s definitely a positive development. But I don’t think it’s cause for celebration,” said Mr Pagoulatos. “We’re back…