...the workings of Classical Greece’s political economy. It is important for me to understand this because I am minoring in Philosophy. Greece is important to Philosophy because many great thinkers such as Pythagoras and Socrates were “Greek” thinkers. So more or less, I chose Greece for a personal educational gain rather than just some random society to write a research paper on. World historians and readers alike should be interested in this research because from Greece came the father of Western Philosophy, which is the backbone of what is taught in Western academia and really had a huge impact to the world, as we know it. With Philosophy comes questions, with questions come many great answers that impact societies and even the earth. I want to study how Greece’s political economy impacted philosophic thinkers and people alike. In order to help readers understand whether or not outside forces like society’s political economy impacts deeper thinking like philosophy I will dive deep into Athenian Democracy, documents certain philosophers wrote in the day and time in which they lived, and even look into some other people of the time who had strong opinions on what exactly was going on them. Philosophy impacted more than most people think and I am sure in my research I will be able to back that up with primary sources to prove my argument. In writing this research paper I will be exploring the political economy of Classical Greece between 510 – 323 BCE. In addition, the geographic...
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...1. -Do you think Greece should leave (or be kicked out) of the Eurozone? From the Greece point of view, it should stay in the Eurozone. Firstly, if it left the Eurozone and adopt the drachma, the country’s economy would suffer from weak currency, high inflation rate and high interest rate. This situation might continue for several years. The Greeks’ living standard then would become much worse than now. Secondly, Greece cannot benefit a lot from the weak currency. The current dominant industry in Greece is the tourism. Greece doesn’t have many natural and labor resources, and doesn’t have high-tech industries or large scale of manufactures or services industries which are strong enough to drive the economy. So, the weak currency cannot benefit the export. It might benefit the tourism, but the prosperity of the tourism is not strong enough to drag Greece from the deep debt mud. Finally, if the Greece exit Eurozone because of the veto of fiscal austerity, then the Greece government might continue the high welfare and high tax social security system. Although the fiscal austerity imposed by creditors of the Eurozone is a little over strict, the fiscal austerity is somehow right on the track. The high welfare system is a very heavy burden for the economy which not only cause a lot of government debt but also demotivate labor force. We can see the effect of the fiscal austerity during 2011~2014, the GDP increased from -8% to -0.2%, which means that the economy is becoming better. ...
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...Greece is a developed country with a capitalist economy. The economy of Greece is based on service sector (85%), tourism (15%), and industry (12%), while the agricultural sector consists only 3% of the national economic output. Greece has a high standard of living, its GDP per capita is about two-thirds of the largest European economies. Greece entered the eurozone in 2000, before 2009, Greece had 14 years of consecutive economic growth. However, since 2009 Greece has been experiencing a recession. The recession was caused from debt accumulating from government borrowing and spending, and not enough tax revenues. Since Greece is part of the Eurozone, it must abide by the European Union’s requirements such as, the government budget deficit cannot exceed 3% and the debt to GDP ratio cannot exceed 60%.Greece has had an inflation rate above 4% and budget deficit of 6-10% of GDP, with the highest being 15/7% in 2010. The debt to GDP of Greece exceed 60% in 2012, it was 70.3 higher. As a result, Greece has implement contractionary fiscal policies to help control its inflation and budget deficits. As the Greek economy undergoes an extended period of economic and political turmoil, bold and committed policy actions were critically needed to restore fiscal sustainability, enhance labor market flexibility, and tackle systemic corruption. As shown in the Greek debt comparison to Eurozone average graph, Greece’s debt is higher than the average in the Eurozone. Greece agreed for a €11...
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...important form of art in Early Greece. The Greeks developed three architectural systems/orders known as the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Each one was distinctive in its style and design. Greek Pottery was another important form of art in Early Greece. The paintings on the pottery found from early Greece has survived for centuries and these pieces give a glimpse into the culture and lives of Early Greece. Sculpture consisted of small figurines and life-size statutes (such as the Statue of Kouros). Sculptures were created using marble, limestone, stone, and other materials. The sculptures created told stories of Heroes, Gods, Mythical Creatures, Important Events, and the culture of Greece. Greek Art and Sculpture derived from Romans. Roman Statues were developed from copying the art from the Greeks. Statues were made of gods and important leaders. Their statues showed a great sense of skill and originality. Roman sculptures were designed for the purpose of telling the significant history of the culture. Besides the sculptures, statues, and paintings in Rome, Mosaics were also popular. Mosaics were made with geometric shapes of stone and placed in different shapes to create the desired look. Geography Greece is a peninsula that is composed of even smaller peninsulas on its land. The land also is covered with mountains. This landform made it difficult for people to get around the land, which is why many relied on using boats. Both Greece and Rome consisted of hills...
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...Greece Should Not Exit The Euro Zone In recent years, there has been an ongoing debate over whether Greece should exit the Eurozone or not. The reasons are the seemingly current inability of Greece to compete within the euro currency, its tremendously high amounts of government debt which is on the verge of default, the inability to pull through with the anticipated austerity measures and the acceleration of the downward spiral of the Greek economy. Up to now, a so-called Grexit has not taken place due to repeated bailouts by the EU, represented by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The debate whether a Grexit should happen in the future is one of importance, as it would not only have many implications on the country itself, but also on the remaining countries in the EU and on the global economy. Many of these implications would affect Greece as well as a majority of other countries negatively and thus the Grexit should be one to prevent. The key points in this context are that firstly, that Greece would suffer greatly from the reintroduction of the drachma due to an immense depreciation and resulting decreasing value of the currency, which would lead to business closures and essentially an increase in poverty. Secondly, the global economy would be affected negatively by a Grexit due to a potential global credit crunch as well as the debt default. Thirdly, there are still measures...
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...Introduction The financial crisis of 2007–08, also known as the Global Financial Crisis and 2008 financial crisis, is considered by many economists to have been the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It threatened the collapse of large financial institutions, which was prevented by the bailout of banks by national governments, but stock markets still dropped worldwide. In many areas, the housing market also suffered, resulting in evictions, foreclosures and prolonged unemployment. The crisis played a significant role in the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in trillions of U.S. dollars, and a downturn in economic activity leading to the 2008–2012 global recession and contributing to the European sovereign-debt crisis. The active phase of the crisis, which manifested as a liquidity crisis, can be dated from August 9, 2007, when BNP Paribas terminated withdrawals from three hedge funds citing "a complete evaporation of liquidity". Many causes for the financial crisis have been suggested, with varying weight assigned by experts.The U.S. Senate's Levin–Coburn Report concluded that the crisis was the result of "high risk, complex financial products; undisclosed conflicts of interest; the failure of regulators, the credit rating agencies, and the market itself to rein in the excesses of Wall Street." The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission concluded that the financial crisis was avoidable and was caused by "widespread failures...
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...Greece and Brazil: A Comparison of the Costs and Benefits Associated with Free Trade Policies and Restrictive Trade Policies. Introduction The countries of Greece and Brazil have experienced unique situations in both economic conditions. These situations brought about significant changes in policy, which resulted in several events having both negative and positive impacts on each country’s development, and most importantly, international trade. This paper will also examine the economic structure of both Greece and Brazil, while identifying the similarities and differences of these structures. Greece became a member of the European Union in the 1980’s and participated in the free trade environment that was and is a representation of the EU. Brazil, on the other hand, practices protectionism which also had both a negative and positive impact on the country. This paper looks at both the positive and the negative impacts of each country’s trade policies and practices. Historical Insight A Brief History of Greece Greece (The Hellenic Republic) is located on the far south of the Balkan Peninsula, and consists of over 1400 islands, the largest of which is Crete, and the capital is Athens. Greece has a population of around 11 million people as at 2013, according to the World Bank. Its GDP is 242.2, GDP growth -3.3% and inflation is -0.9% as also confirmed by the World Bank in 2013, see Table 1. Greece has a parliamentary democratic system, the main political parties are ...
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...II. Greece public debt 1. Current situation Greece has been in the public debt crisis since 2009. The Greek public debt crisis is one of a number of current European sovereign-debt crises and is believed to have been caused by a combination of structural weaknesses of the Greek economy coupled with the incomplete economic, tax and banking unification of the European Monetary Union. Those days, Greece has confronted with three main related problems: government trust crisis, declining liquidity capacity and high risk of bankruptcy. a) Government trust crisis The prestige of Greek government was impaired seriously during crisis time. Greece borrowed uncontrollable amounts from the financial market to ensure the liquidity for the budget deficit. The budget deficit limit allowed in Eurozone was only 3% of the GDP, while this level of Greece in 2009 was 13.6% and might even increase to over 14%. To cover the overspending in the past years, the Greek government had reported data inconsistently and bias, containing various unusual sections in budget. This action drew to the negative consequences on the reputation of the Greek government on the domestic as well as international market. The credit ascertaining organization successively downgraded Greece recently. Within the first four months of 2010 S&P had lowered continuously the credibility coefficient of Greece, from A- to BBB+ and BB+. b) Declining liquidity capacity Unpaid debt of Greece was nearly 400 billion...
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...Background: As the consequence of the 2008 U.S. banking crisis, Europe was hit by one of the worst debt crisis. Starting from Greece in autumn 2009, the crisis spread to other European countries, especially Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal and forced European policy makers to take many actions to limit its consequences (BOG, 2014, p.42). While others European economies such as Spain, Portugal avoided the severe crisis by following advisory strategy like austerity, reducing public spending…, Greece situation did not improved. To help Greece improve its situation, the IMF and Eurozone governments sealed a deal for two bailouts in 2010 and 2012, totalling €240 billion. On July 5, 2015 the majority of Greek citizens voted to reject the Europe’s plan to bail out the country’s economy, which caused the fear about the potential exit from the European Union, Greece’s future and world economy as well. Despite that fact, Eurozone leaders still reached an agreement on a third bailout programme to save Greece from bankruptcy on July 13. Although Greece overcame the severe situation, there is no indicator that the crisis will stop. This essay will discuss Greek situation involving 3 main issues, which are mistakes leading to crisis, financial regulation and the role of banks, potential financial contagion and moral hazard. Discussion: 1. Mistakes leading to crisis: One of mistakes leading to crisis was supposed to involve economic statistical data fraud. According to a comprehensive...
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...previous government.” - Bouras & Karnitschnig (Wall Street Journal, 2015) A beautiful European country on the Mediterranean, Greece was living on borrowed time. Since gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832 Greece has spent more than half its years in default. For generations the Political system in Greece has been driven by public service jobs. Politicians regularly handed out favors in the form of government jobs to attain votes. They also made working for the state an attractive proposition with better wages than the private sector and retirement after 25 years of service. This effectively meant that if you started working after completing university you could retire before the age of 50. This is a clear example of country club style leadership. In recent years the promises made by new political leaders led some to believe that change may have been on its way and Greece could be on the road to economic recovery. As it turns out the new promises of a new government were broken, just like those of previous administrations. Continually the world finds misguided leadership in Greece. Politicians focused on appealing to Greece’s citizens short term happiness in attempts to earn political favor rather than addressing the more important task of developing a plans to avoid bankruptcy, lower its debt ratio, and stabilize its economy. For decades Greece was able ignore these tasks by selling bonds to fund...
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...stagnation of the Greek economy and the demotion in their debt rating did not aid their financial situation. Greece was then faced with the possibility of sovereign debt default. The failure of Greece to pay their debts required bailouts from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). While the loan bailouts have eased short term liquidity problems, Greece still remained in financial turmoil which may even deteriorate. This research paper aims to explore the history behind the Greek debt crisis, the implications it has globally and on South Africa as well as the lessons that can be learnt from the crisis. Origins of the Greek debt crisis 2.1 Historical development: 2001-2008/09 In 2001 Greece became the twelfth member to join the Euro zone and was permitted to use the Euro (€) as its currency. Greece joined the Euro zone because of the benefits associated with being part of the Euro area. These benefits were essential to the economy of Greece who had a record of unpredictable inflation (Gibson, Hall & Tavlas, 2012). In addition, after Greece changed to the Euro they had the freedom to borrow money from foreign capital markets. During 2003-2007 government records showed Greece to be growing at 4% a year which gave investors’ confidence and made Greek bonds a popular investment. However, Greece falsified its debt to seem more financially secure. This misrepresentation led to Greece debt position being hidden...
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...The comparative advantage of Greece in the era of recession Lampros Gallos National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Athens, Greece lam.gal@hotmail.com Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate the export behaviour of Greece and to identify its comparative advantage. Moreover, through the conclusions of the analysis, is investigated whether the export activity of the country coincides with its comparative advantage especially in the present circumstances, those of recession. Initially, we define the comparative advantage based on the approaches of Adam Smith, David Ricardo's and Heckscher-Ohlin. Furthermore we analyze the current situation of the country, Greece’s economic structure and its trade performance, mainly the exports. In addition we identify the elements of the Greek competitiveness and the results of the fiscal consolidation that Greece is undergoing. Having analyzed the definition of the comparative advantage and the data concerning Greece’s reforms we proceed in identifying Greece’s comparative advantage mainly in four different sectors. Firstly we identify the key factors making the touristic sector extremely profitable for the Greek economy; secondly we analyze the commercial shipping sector then the strategically position of the country and finally the competitive rates in which Greece seems to gain ground. Keywords: comparative advantage, competitiveness, internationalisation, entrepreneurship, financial crisis. 1 Contents: 1....
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...Greece XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX College Professional Studies Abstract Greece is a country of great beauty. It has long been one of the world’s top tourist destinations. Tourism is one of the major industries of the Greek economy; tourism is a strong earner of foreign exchange. The warm climates, the long, scenic Mediterranean coastline, the many significant archaeological and historical sites, the traditional hospitality of Greeks, and improvements in the local infrastructure have continued to attracted visitors (Photius). I have elected to focus on two aspects of the country of Greece for the purpose of this paper. First, I will outline the educational system in Greece. It has an interesting government run structure in which primary and secondary education is mandatory, a total of 9 years. Also, an additional 3 years of education is optional for students who desire to prepare for technical school or higher education in the university system. All education is free in Greece, placing the burden on the taxpayer. I will also discuss Article 16 of the Greek Constitution regarding the government’s stance on higher education and the negative issues surrounding their policy. The second issue I will discuss in this paper is the current economic problems facing Greece. After the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece, there was great hope that would have lasting...
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...Euro Crisis: Greece’s Reform to Uphold the Euro Greece has been a significant trading partner within the EU as well with the global community at large. Public spending has been at its highest since the financial crisis in 2008 and with irrational investing behind banks and the private sectors; it only worsened their economy. The complicated areas of the European economy mostly have been due to countries spending vast amounts of borrowed finances than they have fluctuating within their own nation. Countries deficits are still increasing after the US financial crisis and it has led to continuous austerity agreements and negotiations to prevent these issues from relapsing. Greece is in a classic sovereign debt crisis and while struggling to fix their deficit, (currently the largest in the Eurozone) this turned to controversial debates whether or not to let Greece free of the euro, or continue to keep them in. The problem of the matter relies heavily on the political sector of the union as well as the economic foundation represented in Greece’s past, showing that releasing the nation from the euro will only cause more harm than actually stabilizing them in. The US financial crisis of 2008 grew strongly towards the inefficiency between the banks and investors, who failed to act rational in accordance with the economy (Heath 401). In an efficient market, one person’s gains are another person’s loss but one cannot strategize placement in the market through someone making continuous...
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...that may be of importance is Greece, which is located in Southern Europe. Greece is one of the most mountainous countries in Europe, consisting of approximately eighty percent mountains and hills. It shares borders with four other countries (Albania, The Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Turkey), and is also bordered by three seas (Aegean, Mediterranean, and the Ionian). Greece has a total coastline length of 13,676 kilometers, which makes it the eleventh longest in the world. This coastline consists of the mainland as well as approximately 1,400 islands, 227 of which are inhibited. Greece has a fairly large population of almost eleven million people. Majority of the country, roughly 99 percent, speak Greek, while the remaining population speaks English and French. Because of Greece’s location, it faces some significant political and economic disputes between bordering countries. Since there are a vast amount of islands in the seas bordering Greece, it is always facing boundary disputes with neighboring countries. One of the best examples is the constant, ongoing discussion between Greece and Turkey attempting to resolve their complex maritime, air, territorial, and boundary disputes in the Aegean Sea. Another problem that Greece faces because of its location is the mass migration of Albanians into Greece seeking employment. This migration started in the late 1980’s and is still an issue in Greece today. The number of Albanian immigrants in Greece is estimated to be between...
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