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Whither Public Interest: The Case of Greece's Public Finances

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  • Thomas Moutos
  • Christos Tsitsikas
Abstract
During the last three decades there has been an almost continuous undermining of the public interest by private interests operating either outside or inside Greek public administration. The result of this infiltration has been a gradual loss of bureaucratic autonomy to pursue the public interest. The web of relationships developed between private interests and the two dominant political parties have eroded both the efficacy of public administration and the dynamism of the private sector as incumbent firms and public (or quasi-public) sector functionaries have been using their power to prevent the birth of new firms and to raid the state coffers. The upshot of these have been the emergence of permanently large budget and current account deficits, which have in turn driven Greece’s foreign indebtedness to alarming levels, necessitating the current bailout by the EU/ECB/IMF.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Moutos & Christos Tsitsikas, 2010. "Whither Public Interest: The Case of Greece's Public Finances," CESifo Working Paper Series 3098, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_3098
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Litina, Anastasia & Palivos, Theodore, 2016. "Corruption, tax evasion and social values," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 164-177.
    2. Daly, Hounaida & Smida, Mounir, 2013. "Interaction entre politique monétaire et politique budgétaire:Cas de la Grèce [Fiscal and Monetary Policy Interactions : The Greece Case]," MPRA Paper 45931, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Chen, Yu-Fu & Funke, Michael, 2010. "Global Warming And Extreme Events: Rethinking The Timing And Intensity Of Environmental Policy," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-48, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    4. Daly, Hounaida & Smida, Mounir, 2013. "La coordination des politiques monétaire et budgétaire: Aperçu théorique [Coordination of monetary and fiscal policies: Theoretical Overview]," MPRA Paper 48020, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Gustav A. Horn & Fabian Lindner & Torsten Niechoj, 2011. "Schuldenschnitt für Griechenland - ein gefährlicher Irrweg für den Euroraum," IMK Report 63-2011, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    6. Giancarlo Corsetti & Michael P. Devereux & John Hassler & Gilles Saint-Paul & Hans-Werner Sinn & Jan-Egbert Sturm & Xavier Vives, 2011. "Chapter 3: Greece," EEAG Report on the European Economy, CESifo, vol. 0, pages 97-125, February.
    7. Alfons Weichenrieder & Jochen Zimmer, 2014. "Euro membership and fiscal reaction functions," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 21(4), pages 598-613, August.
    8. Paraskevi Koufopoulou & Colin C. Williams & Athanassios Vozikis & Kyriakos Souliotis, 2019. "Shadow Economy: Definitions, terms & theoretical considerations," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 9(5), pages 1-3.
    9. Daly, Hounaida & Smida, Mounir, 2014. "Fiscal Theory of Price Level," MPRA Paper 60142, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Anastasia Litina & Theodore Palivos, 2015. "Corruption and Tax Evasion: Reflections on Greek Tragedy," Working Papers 193, Bank of Greece.
    11. Thomas Moutos & Lambros Pechlivanos, 2013. "The Democratization of Rent Seeking in Greece," CESifo Working Paper Series 4331, CESifo.
    12. Lampropoulou, Manto, 2021. "Public-sector reform: Lessons from the privatisation experiment in Greece," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    debt; deficits; political economy; fiscal crisis; Greece;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H62 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Deficit; Surplus
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt

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