You are invited to an Economics External
Speaker event on the topic:
TROIKA’S ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMMES FOR GREECE: HAVE THEY REALLY SUCCEEDED?
Stavros Mavroudeas
In August 2018 the EU and the Greek government declared the successful completion of the 3rd Economic Adjustment Programme (EAP) for Greece. They also explicitly implied that the Greek crisis is over. We dispute the statements made by the EU and the Greek government and argue that Greek EAPs (a) rest on a problematic understanding of the Greek crisis (as simply a debt crisis), (b) applied a disastrous policy recipe in an attempt to deal with the crisis, and (c) failed systematically to achieve their own milestones. We will analyse the theoretical background of these programmes which lie in the neo-conservative notions of pro-cyclicality and growth- creating austerity. We will show that the Greek EAP’s basic structure is a very problematic modification of the typical 1990s IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programmes (as it lacks the lever of currency devaluation and had a belated, half-baked and ineffective debt restructuring). Finally, we will discuss the systematic failure of the Greek EAPs in achieving their own goals.
Stavros Mavroudeas is Professor of Political Economy at the Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, Greece. His research focuses on Marxist Political Economy, Development Economics, History of Economic Thought, and Greek Economic History.
DATE: 21 November 2018
TIME: 12:00 – 13:30
VENUE: JHBB302