Suchergebnisse

The combined effects of internal devaluation and fiscal consolidation policies implemented in Greece between 2010 and 2019 are reflected in substantial levels of income contraction and unequal distribution of the financial burden. Neoliberal policy responses are examined through a safety net that allocates scarce fiscal resources to persons in extreme need, subject to high primary budget surplus targets. The safety net operates in this manner when social pressure upon the worker class intensifies. Further, the essay explores two supplementary aspects. First, a modified measure of poverty using the conventional approach of differentiated income poverty lines is considered. Second, net social wage variations are examined. Results indicate Greek workers have suffered substantially and that neoliberal policies have placed disproportionate burdens on persons most in need.

"The social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and of extreme climate events have brought into sharp relief the serious deficiencies of our political economies. The dominant global ideology of neoliberalism and its architects and beneficiaries are responsible for this. Bilateral development assistance is an integral part of the neoliberal grand design. However, while the deficiencies of neoliberalism have been starkly exposed by the pandemic, its collapse is unlikely in the short-term. Much bilateral assistance will therefore continue to be self-serving. Within these confines, and on the basis of a sharply critical analysis of the functioning of technical assistance at the point of the design and delivery of programmes and projects, this book identifies crucial supply-side nodes of power and influence where feasible and relatively straight-forward 'functional' reforms - strategy, structure, selection, training - would make genuinely developmental results for recipients more likely and enhance donor interests at the same time. It argues that more authentic, empathetic, and altruistic technical assistance will be essential to bringing this about. The arguments are supported by primary, published evidence gathered by the author during 18 years of full-time employment as a team leader or programme manager of technical assistance programmes. The book will be of interest to students of development management, development economics, political economy and international relations, as well as policy makers, development practitioners and supply- and demand-side government officials"--

This article takes a critical view on austerity policy and examines its social and economic consequences for the case of Greece. By introducing the concept of "growthless employment" it demonstrates that the implementation of internal devaluation policies had a substantial impact on the Greek society that needs to be addressed. Within a decade, household disposable income was reduced to an unprecedented level while the labour market was extensively deregulated as several indicators can display. The seemingly paradoxical case of employment without growth—hence, growthless employment—can be interpreted as the consequence of the intensity of the mix of austerity policies that was imposed as "one-size-fits-all" without taking the peculiar structure of the Greek economy into account. A descriptive examination of this idiosyncratic state of affairs is offered, providing new insights on how the level of depreciation can be better assessed. It is argued that the overall severity of the crisis is better captured by the level of disposable income whereas a modified measurement of poverty and income depreciation is introduced for the same purpose. Lastly it is maintained that Greece has suffered by an enormous outflow of its productive-aged population in the aftermath of the crisis. All the above concretise the idea of growthless employment in Greece.