The crisis in Greece. Missteps and miscalculations

This paper analyses the origins of the Greek economic and financial crisis, covering 1981 to 2012. The work depicts how unsustainable imbalances built up over a prolonged period, often fueled by ample low-cost financing sources. It analyses the underlying forces such as institutional shortcomings, data misreporting, and deeply engrained social values and practices that nurtured a climate of widespread corruption and political favoritism. The paper addresses the achievements and shortcomings of the 2010 international support programme and its overall weak traction in Greece. While deficiencies in international surveillance and financial architecture played a role, the paper concludes that the key drivers of the crisis and of the mixed progress in the previous decades were home-grown.