Greece in the euro zone crisis. An analysis of the competitiveness problem of the Greek economy

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Economics - Other, grade: 1,3, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Gutenberg School of Management & Economics), course: Dealing with Economic Crises, language: English, abstract: The paper is divided into five parts: after the introduction, there is a theoretical chapter which deals with the general idea of competitiveness and scientific solutions for countries that get into a situation in which they have to regain competitiveness in order to improve their growth rates. The theoretical fundament of the paper will be followed by the third part which includes the empirical examination of the Greek competitiveness problem. Based on various data, it will be shown that Greece experienced a conspicuous loss of competitiveness compared to other euro zone member countries. Moreover, it will be become evident that Greece could skip necessary structural reforms due to declining interest rates and missing discipline within the euro zone. Afterwards, a short description of the counter policies and measures that were implemented or omitted will be given before analyzing the degree of achievement. One implication will be that Greece undertook great effort, but also could have done better in many respects. The fourth part will pick up the results of the empirical analysis and show that both the Troika and the Greek government acted imperfectly, but that structural reforms currently remain the best opportunity to reach a status of sufficient competitiveness again. The paper is rounded off by a conclusion.