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BlogEmployment in Greece
From a peak of 4.5 million workers in 2008, Greece has already lost 500,000 jobs. Our first chart shows that the country is already in its worst condition since the beginning of the century in terms of the share of the working age population who have a job (our projections are based on the last [...] -
Greece’s Grim Choice: Deep Budget Cuts or Default
AP, February 12, 2012. Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. WASHINGTON (AP) — Why would Greece accept more pain when unemployment is at 21 percent, the economy is enduring its fifth year of recession and rioters are hurling gasoline bombs in the streets of Athens? Because the alternative might be worse. Greek […] -
Papadimitriou Discusses the Latest on Greece
Bloomberg Radio, February 10, 2012. © 2012 Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved. Dimitri Papadimitriou, president of the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, discusses whether or not Greece will hold together. Papadimitriou talks with Kathleen Hays and Vonnie Quinn on Bloomberg Radio’s “The Hays Advantage.” Full audio of the interview is available here. -
Blog
A Job Creation Strategy for Greece
No matter what happens on Sunday, when the Greek parliament is scheduled to vote on the latest bailout package, on Monday Greece will wake up in the grip of an employment crisis (20 percent unemployment, with a near 40 percent youth unemployment rate). In the Huffington Post Dimitri Papadimitriou tells us what we can (and [...] -
Greece’s Groundhog Day
Marketplace, February 10, 2012. © Marketplace from American Public Media As riots in Athens grew violent today, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos took a “take it or leave it” stance with his cabinet ministers. Either get behind the new austerity measures or quit. Six of them chose to leave. On Sunday the Greek parliament […] -
Blog
The Sources of Personal Income Since 1947
(Click to enlarge.) See the blue line in the upper half of the figure above? That line shows the portion of personal income made up of wage and salary disbursements, as a percentage of total personal income. (As the figure notes, I’ve subtracted social insurance contributions such as Social Security taxes. Also, employer contributions to [...] -
Greece: How to Slow the Nosedive
The Huffington Post, February 9, 2012. Copyright © 2012 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved. The latest negotiations between Greece and its lenders have ended, at least momentarily. Athens has agreed to endure ever-more painful pension, spending, and wage cuts, with monthly minimum salaries dropping 20 percent. The powerful leaders of ”the troika”—the International Monetary Fund, […] -
Blog
State AGs Cave to Banksters
(cross posted at EconoMonitor) Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism has long been skeptical of the negotiations by the State Attorneys General and the banksters over the foreclosure frauds (see here). And while I had held out some hope that California and New York would either refuse to join, or would insist on good terms, today’s [...] -
Blog
Pessimism on Greek Bailout Deal (If You Need Some)
To provide a little more perspective on the news of the just-announced Greek bailout agreement, I point you to this CNN Money piece from yesterday in which Dimitri Papadimitriou notes how abysmal the underlying economic growth trends remain (Greek employment depends a lot on shipping, which is faring poorly) and reminds us that the package, [...] -
Blog
Bernanke Visits Alternate Universe
Well then. Apparently not everyone agrees that the Federal Reserve is having trouble balancing its dual mandate. Rather, I should say that not everyone agrees about the nature of the imbalance. From the Boston Globe‘s reporting of Ben Bernanke’s appearance in front of the Senate Budget Committee, we find this: “It seems to me that [...] -
One-Pager No. 25
Put an End to the Farce That’s Turned Into a Tragedy
The 2007–08 global financial crisis was the second most disastrous global economic event of the last 80 years. Thanks to severe austerity measures and a fanatical commitment to fiscal consolidation, Europe’s overall economy is now close to stagnation and extremely high levels of unemployment prevail in many countries, especially in the eurozone periphery. In Greece, […] -
One-Pager No. 25
Θέστε τέρμα στη φάρσα που κατέληξε σε τραγωδία
Η παγκόσμια χρηματοοικονομική κρίση του 2007–08 είναι το δεύτερο πιο καταστροφικό παγκόσμιο οικονομικό γεγονός των τελευταίων 80 ετών. Χάρη στα αυστηρά μέτρα λιτότητας και σε μια φανατική δέσμευση στη δημοσιονομική εξυγίανση, η συνολική οικονομία της Ευρώπης βρίσκεται τώρα πολύ κοντά σε κατάσταση στασιμότητας και εξαιρετικά υψηλά επίπεδα ανεργίας επικρατούν σε πολλές χώρες, ιδίως στην περιφέρεια […]