A Grexit would not be a catastrophe for all Greeks

With no deal reached between Greece and its creditors, there remain doubts as to whether the country will be able to make its next debt repayment to the IMF. Gregory T. Papanikos assesses the consequences of a ‘Grexit’ for the people of Greece. He argues that the Greek government has proven itself incapable of negotiating with other members of the Eurozone and that the fallout from Greece leaving the euro would fall disproportionately on the poor

ECB decision should be good news for Greece, but Syriza will get in the way

First paragraph: The European Central Bank’s decision to spend 60 billion euro a month to buy sovereign debt in order to fight deflation and revive the crumbling eurozone coincides with a snap Greek parliamentary election on January 25.https://theconversation.com/ecb-decision-should-be-good-news-for-greece-but-syriza-will-get-in-the-way-3657

Greece's new debt deal may appease creditors but it won't help the economy

First paragraph: Greece’s new coalition government was elected with a mandate to write off most of the €310 billion sovereign debt, with or without the consent of its creditors. In less than a week in power, this position has already shifted from attaining a debt “haircut” to arranging a debt swap.https://theconversation.com/greeces-new-debt-deal-may-appease-creditors-but-it-wont-help-the-economy-3706

The Bright Future of Democracy is in Education

Does democracy have a bright future? This brief paper addresses this question and argues, that, thanks to Prometheus, political “animals” can build a better-managed corral for their common living which includes a better provision of education for all “animals.” A historical analysis of the long past may be used to discern what lies ahead. Democracy requires education and virtue, or to put it in one word, it requires pedagogy. The higher the level of pedagogy, the closer a politeia would come to an ideal democracy. Sometimes democracy is confused with equality in everything. Political “animals” are not equal, and political systems which treat people with different abilities equally have no future. An ideal society should discriminate according to levels of education obtained and the acquisition of material wealth. If the politeia is ideal, then each citizen has the same opportunity to become more educated and wealthier. In this free competition of being educated and the acquisition of individually made material wealth, ideal societies can flourish as Hesiod postulated in the 8th Century BCE and become stable despite Polybius’ predictions in the 2nd -1st Century BCE of the inevitable historical cyclicality of political systems

Greece in the Eurozone: An Evaluation of the First Two Decades

On the 31st of December 2021, the euro celebrated its two decades in circulation. Initially, twelve countries adopted the euro as their new national currency, Greece being one of them. Starting in 2020, euro is the official currency of nineteen European Union countries. This paper aims to examine three issues. Firstly, the paper investigates Greek people’s perception about the euro, using data from the recent issue of the Eurobarometer (December 2021). Secondly, the economic performance of Greece is briefly examined by comparing the Greek Gross Domestic Product (GDP) two decades before and two decades after the introduction of euro. Finally, the Greek participation to the eurozone has been a controversial, political issue. The political developments in Greece during the first two decades of the euro are also studied, emphasizing the dramatic political events after the double elections of 2012. The period of the two decades ends with the detrimental impact of COVID-19. This issue is also mentioned by reviewing some recent publications

Taxing Wealth and only Wealth in an Advanced Economy with an Oversized Informal Economy and Vast Tax Evasion: The Case of Greece

Greece has the largest underground economy in the eurozone and one of the largest in Europe and the OECD countries. On the other hand, Greece is notoriously known for its sizable and widespread tax evasion primarily because of the large number of self employed and its wide geographical distribution. As documented by many studies, the two depend on a corrupted, inefficient and ineffective public administration. The emphasis is here on the restructuring of the Greek tax system taking into consideration these three structural characteristics of the Greek economy: a large informal sector, a pervasive tax evasion and a corrupt public sector (including the tax authorities). Many attempts to change these structural characteristics have failed primarily because they underestimate the costs and overestimate the benefits of any reform. And this because they assume that people"s attitudes (tax morale) and the role institutions can change by a government decree. This paper takes these as given and proposes a tax system that is based exclusively on wealth (property, bank deposits, shares etc) and the abolishment of VAT and all kinds of income taxes. It is argued that this system is more efficient, more effective, more democratic and promotes competitiveness and economic growth

Business: Accounting, Finance, Management & Marketing

This abstract book includes all the abstracts of the papers presented at the 9th Annual International Conference on Business: Accounting, Finance, Management & Marketing, 4-7 July 2011 organized by the Athens Institute for Education and Research. In total there were 98 papers and 109 presenters, coming from 29 different countries (Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America). The conference was organized into 25 sessions that included areas such as National and International Policies, Financial Reporting, Structure and Strategy, Marketing Communication, e.t.c. As it is the publication policy of the Institute, the papers presented in this conference will be considered for publication in one of the books of ATINER