Will Greece go Bankrupt and kill the euro?

Authors

  • Herbert Grubel Professor of Economics (Emeritus), Simon Fraser University. Senior Fellow, The Fraser Institute.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52195/pm.v10i1.203

Abstract

This paper compares the benefits to Greece, the Euro zone and the rest of the world arising from policies that prevent a Greek default and exit from the Euro with the costs of preventive policies. It concludes that the benefits exceed the costs, though unpredictable politics and nationalist aspirations may prevent the adoption of the rational policies. The paper also considers the causes of Greece’s problems: the failure of lenders to ask for a proper risk premium on the country’s bonds; Greece’s publication of false economic data; the failure of credit rating agencies to down-grade its bonds; the global financial euphoria and supply of liquidity that made lenders disregard traditional standards in all their dealings. The paper recommends policies to ensure the proper functioning of financial markets to prevent future crises.

Key words: Greece bankruptcy, Euro survival, Greek statistics, Credit ratings.

JEL Classification: F33, F34, F36, F55, G15, G24.

Resumen: Este artículo compara los beneficios con los costes derivados del salvamento griego, llegando a la conclusión de que los beneficios superan claramente a los costes. También se analizan las causas del problema, el papel de las sociedades de rating y la euforia previa especulativa, efectuán-dose unas consideraciones sobre el futuro del euro y del orden financiero internacional.

Palabras clave: Bancarrota Griega, Euro, Estadísticas en Grecia, Credit ratings.

Clasificación JEL: F33, F34, F36, F55, G15, G24.

References

ANDRITSOYIANNIS, D.J. (2012): «GREECE: UNDERSTANDING THE IN - COMPREHENSIBLE: A brief run through a history of success and extra - ordinary failure, combined», a paper presented at the Mundell Conference in Santa Colomba, Italy in July 2012. Copy of the paper is available from Grubel (herbert.grubel@shaw.ca)

BITROS, G.C. (2012): guest editor «On Greece and Greek Sta tis - tics», special edition of the Journal of Economic and So cial 88 HERBERT GRUBEL Measure ment (JESM), which contains the editor’s con tri - bution «From riches to rugs or what went wrong in Greece». — (2013): Creative Crisis in Democracy and Economy, Springer, Publishers.

BRUCHEZ, P.-A. (2003): «Will the Swiss Fiscal Rule Lead to Stabi - lization of the Public Debt?» Working Paper - 26 August, Doc. No.: ÖT/2003/4, Bern: Swiss Federal Finance Admi - nistration, Bundesgasse 3, CH-3003 Bern.

BUCHANAN, J. (1967): Public Finance in Democratic Process: Fiscal Institutions and Individual Choice republished in 1999 by In - dianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, Inc.

COOPER, R. (2011): «Reflections on the Financial Crisis», unpubli - shed manuscript supplied by author, Harvard University, December.

DE GRAUWE, P. (2011): «The European Central Bank as a lender of last resort», August 18, found at http://www.voxeu.org/article/european-central-bank-lender-last-resort

FELDSTEIN, M. (1997): «EMU and International Conflict», Foreign Affairs, Nov/Dec.

— (2012): «The Failure of the Euro: The Little Currency That Couldn’t», Foreign Affairs, January/February found at http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/136752/martinfeldstein/the-failure-of-the-euro

FRANKEL, J. and ROSE A. (1997): «The Endogeneity of Optimum Currency Area Criteria», Economic Journal, 108, 449, July.

FRIEDMAN, M. and SCHWARTZ, A. (1971): Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press.

GEIER, A. (2011): «The Debt brake - the Swiss fiscal rule at the fe - deral level», Working Paper N.º 15, Bern: Swiss Confede - ration, Federal Department of Finance, Federal Finance Ad - ministration www.efv.admin.ch.

GRUBEL, H. (1999): The Case for the Amero, The Economics and Politics of a North American Monetary Union, Vancouver, BC: The Fraser Institute.

— (2010): «Who is to blame for the Great Recession?», Journal of Economic Asymmetries, December 2010, 7, 2.

— (2011): «Will there be a Great Inflation in the Wake of the Great Recession?», Southwest Business and Economics Journal, Vol. 19.

HANKE, S. (2012): «Perspective: Money:West vs. East», Globe Asia, September, pp. 18-20.

HUERTA DE SOTO, J. (2012): «In Defense of the Euro: An Austrian Perspective,» Paper presented at the 2012 Prague Meetings of the Mont Pelerin Society (Spanish version Procesos de Mercado, vol. IX, n.º 1, 2012, pp. 15-49; German version Ordo, Band 63, 2012, s. 21-44; Russian version Voprosi Ekonomiki, n.º 11, 2012, pp. 78-100); English version Journal des Econo - mistes et des Etudes Humaines, 2013 forthcoming).

ISSING, O. (2012): «The Euro: It has happened, it is a challenging idea, it will last», Paper presented at the 2012 Prague Meetings of the Mont Pelerin Society (paper available from Grubel or the author).

JONES, C. (2012): «Lagarde calls for caution on austerity», Financial Times, October 11, found at http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/dca55090-135a-11e2-bca6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Ai6cP24a

JOVANOVIC, M. (2012): «Is the Eurozone Rescue Strategy Tantamount to the Rearrangement of the Deckchairs on the Titanic?», Journal of Economic Integration, 27 (1), March; 33-79

KASPER, W. and STREIT, M.E. (1999): Institutional Economics: Social Order and Public Policy, Edward Elgar.

LEWIS, M. (2010): The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company.

— (2011): Boomerang, Travels in the New Third World, New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company.

OLSON, M. (1971): The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups, Harvard University Press, 2nd ed.

POMFRET, R. (2011): «European Crises and the Asian Economies», University of Adelaide School of Economics Working Paper No. 2011-33 at. http://www.economics.adelaide.edu.au/research/papers/doc/wp2011-33.pdf

RHODES, W.R. (2011): Banker to the World, New York: McGraw-Hill.

TAYLOR, J. (2009): GETTING OFF TRACK: How Government Actions and Interventions Caused, Prolonged, and Worsened the Finan - cial Crisis, Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University.

Downloads

Published

2013-01-01

How to Cite

Grubel, H. . (2013). Will Greece go Bankrupt and kill the euro?. REVISTA PROCESOS DE MERCADO, 10(1), 65–90. https://doi.org/10.52195/pm.v10i1.203

Issue

Section

Articles