Abstract
Modern Greece emerged out of poverty status in the early 1970s. That it is faced with the challenge of a declining wealth status from advanced to emerging economy within a generation is no small feat. In the latest (2017) IMF review of the Greek economy, it is shown that while the depth of the decline in output is only matched by the USA during the 1929 crisis, Greece is remaining at the bottom of the barrel in its eighth year, compared to four for the USA.
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- 1.
IMF Country Report No. 17/40, February 2017, 2016 ARTICLE IV CONSULTATION.
- 2.
O.E.C.D. The Impact of the Newly Industrialized Countries, Paris 1978.
- 3.
That economic growth came to a halt with EC membership in 1981 was, as in the previous period, again the result of Greek domestic developments.
- 4.
Spain, another country of Southern Europe, which presented similarities to Greece in terms of concessions to foreign investors, did not participate in the Marshall Plan.
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A. Shonfield Modern Capitalism, The Changing Balance of Public and Private Power, O.U.P., London 1965.
- 6.
S. Strange “International Economics and International Relations, A Case of Mutual Neglect” in International Affairs, April 1970.
- 7.
J. O. Iatrides (ed.) Greece in the 1940s A Nation in Crisis University Press of New England, Hanover and London, 1981, pp. 2–3.
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Angelos Angelopoulos (1904–1995) studied economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB), Leipzig and Paris. Elected professor in 1939, fired from his post in 1946 for political reasons, and left Greece. Returned to Greece 1959, re-elected professor in 1961, where he remained until 1967 when he resigned protesting against the coup d’état. Member of the Academy of Athens In 1976. Director of the Supreme Economic Council (1931–1945), Secretary of State for Economics in the Mountain Government in 1944, and Deputy Finance Minister in the Government of George Papandreou. Governor of the National Bank of Greece (1974–1979).
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Xenophon Zolotas (1904–2004). Professor of Economics in 1928, a post he held until 1967, when he resigned in protest at the military regime. Governor of the Bank of Greece in 1944–1945, then in 1955–1967 (when he resigned in protest at the regime), and in 1974–1981. In November 1989 he was chosen to head a Coalition supported by the conservative, socialist and communist parties, with the task of saving the Greek economy from bankruptcy. He was close with Angelos Angelopoulos and Ioannis Zighdis.
- 10.
Ioannis Zighdis (1913–1997), educated in Lausanne Geneva and London, did his Phd in London School of Economics 1937. In wartime he worked in London under Varvaressos to prepare for the solution of Greece’s financial problems after the end of the war. From June 1944 until the end of 1947 he served in UNRRA international staff, in London and Athens. From the last position, a series of projects were published including “The Mineral Wealth of Greece”. To avoid political prosecution for his views on economic development and industrialization he went on a long trip to Africa to study the economic situation in Ethiopia and Kenya where there were large Greek communities. Elected MP in 1950 of the Dodecanese. Minister for Industry under the Centrist Coalition Governments of N. Plastiras (1952) and G. Papandreou (1964–1965).
- 11.
Kyriakos Varvaressos (1884–1957) Chief section, Ministry of National Economy, Greece, 1911–1913, director statistics, 1913–1920. Assistant professor economics, University of Athens, 1918–1923, Professor 1923. Economic adviser Greek National Bank, 1924–1933. Minister of finance, 1932. Deputy governor Bank of Greece, 1933–1939, Governor, 1939–1945. Minister of finance, 1941–1943 (London). Ambassador at large for economic affairs representing Greece at UNRRA Conference, Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1943, Bretton Woods, 1944, San Francisco, 1945, 1943–1945. Deputy prime minister, also minister of coordination and Minister of Supply, 1945. Executive director then Advisor, Inter-national Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, commonly the World Bank), 1946–1957.
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Alexandros Diomidis (1875–1950). Studied law and economics in Weimar and Paris, doctorate from the University of Berlin. Professor in Athens in 1905. Member of the Athens Academy. First elected in 1909 to the Hellenic Parliament under the banner of the Liberal Party. From 1912 to 1915 and again in 1922 he served as the Minister for Finance. Governor of the National Bank of Greece in 1923 and first governor of the Bank of Greece in 1928. Diomidis became prime minister upon the death of Sofoulis. It was during his brief term in office (28 June 1949–6 January 1950) that the Greek Civil War ended.
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Politakis, G. (2018). Introduction. In: The Post-War Reconstruction of Greece. Palgrave Studies in Democracy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship for Growth. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57734-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57734-4_1
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