February 26, 2015
That is the only possible explanation for the appearance of a column on Greece’s economy by venture capitalist Aristos Doxiadis. The column’s central premise is that Greece’s severe downturn cannot be explained by its macroeconomic policies. It claims that other countries had similar austerity but had no comparable decline in output. It instead blames Greece’s problems on structural problems that have blocked the growth of exports. Both claims are untrue.
Doxiadis told readers:
“Greece has fared much worse than other eurozone countries that faced a sudden drop in foreign financing, and then enacted similar austerity programs. It lost 26 percent of its G.D.P. from the pre-crisis peak, while Portugal, Ireland and Spain lost no more than 7 percent each. Much of this difference is due to foreign trade.
“In all four countries, when capital from abroad stopped flowing in, increasing exports became an urgent goal. The other three countries achieved this quickly. Greece did not. If it had boosted exports, its recession would have been much shallower; by one estimate, a 25 percent increase in exports could have limited the drop of gross domestic product to just 3 percent.”
The claim that the other three countries had similar austerity programs is wrong. According to the I.M.F. the decline in the structural deficit between 2007 and 2014 was 6.0 percentage points of GDP in Ireland, 1.8 percentage point of GDP in Portugal, and -4.1 percentage points of GDP in Spain (the structural deficit grew larger over this period). By comparison the structural deficit in Greece was cut by 12.5 percentage points of GDP over this period, more than twice as large as the deficit reduction in Ireland, the most austere of the other three countries.
The assertion about Greece being the worst export performer of the group is also at odds with the data. According to the OECD, Greece had the largest increase in goods exports (sorry, couldn’t find service data) from 2007 to 2014. Measured in dollar terms, Spain’s goods exports increased by 27.5 percent over this period. Portugal’s exports increased by 21.9 percent while Ireland’s exports fell by 3.1 percent. By comparison, the OECD reports that Greece’s exports rose by 35.6 percent, far more than the 25 percent increase that Doxiadis held out as a target (he doesn’t indicate his time frame).
This matters because Doxiadis’ whole argument is that Greece’s problems cannot be explained by austerity but rather are due to anti-business regulations and attitudes. It may well be the case that regulations and attitudes are impeding growth in Greece, but contrary to Doxiadis’ claim, its downturn is well explained by its austerity, which was much more severe than in the other three countries.
The NYT should have insisted that the column get the basic facts right.
Correction:
Mr. Doxiadis referred me to data on total Greek exports, which were markedly worse than goods exports alone. Apparently Greece’s service exports fared far worse since 2007 than its goods exports.
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