World Economics Association - call for papers

Call for papers
World Economics Association Online Conference

Greece and austerity policies:
Where next for its economy and society?

20^th October - 21^st December, 2014

Abstracts and papers should be submitted to: weagreececonference@gmail.com

Contributions from economists, economic historians, sociologists and political scientists are welcome.
Papers falling within the broad topic of the conference though not on aspects explicitly noted below are also welcome.

TIMETABLE: 
Deadline for abstracts: 30 August and deadline for papers: 27 September, 2014
Discussion Forum begins on 20 October and ends on 21 December, 2014

The conference will be divided into three parts.  Suggested topics for each are listed below.

Part 1: Greece on the eve of the financial crisis – Challenges and opportunities

• The Greek economy: regional development, de-industrialisation, research and innovation, banking sector, shipping, current account deficit, fragile growth, functional and personal income distribution; the role of transnational companies in the Greek economy.
• Public finances and the role of the state: tax system, welfare system, education, health care, public debt, ‘Greek statistics’.
• The Greek society: institutions, politics, group interests and social actors, social inequalities and social mobility, emigration, immigration.
• Greece in the Eurozone: financialisation, structural imbalances, external debt, core-periphery divisions.

Part 2: The Greek crisis and austerity policies

• The handling of the financial crisis by the EU vis-a-viz the European banks
• The banking – sovereign debt crisis nexus
• The Troika – issues of economic governance
• Bailing out Greece, Economic Adjustment Programmes and debt restructuring
• Fiscal austerity: fiscal multipliers, inequality effects of fiscal measures
• Wage austerity: employment, productivity and inequality effects of the cut in minimum wages, wages and trade balance, wages and investment, wage cuts in the private sector and government revenues
• Privatisation: Effects on the public debt over the short and the long run, economic and social implications
• Labour deregulation and flexibility: changes in the labour law and their implications
• The Greek  banking sector in crisis
• Critical appraisals of the austerity programme: institutional background, theoretical underpinnings, implementation, international and intra-EU comparisons
• The crisis of the political system and the strengthening of fascist forces

Part 3: Where to now for Greece?

• Public debt sustainability
• Public debt and Welfare system
• Growth and unemployment
• Economic sustainability and social cohesion
• On-going economic transformation and prospects
• In or out of the Eurozone (fiscal policy, monetary policy, financial system, industrial policy, exchange rate policy)
• The political system in a state of flux
• The Greek society in the post-austerity era

The failure of the austerity policies in Greece calls for radically different approaches to the Greek crisis and for the implementation of alternatives to austerity policies. Otherwise, the possibility of a prolonged period of economic, social and political instability in Greece is extremely high.  The implications of such instability for the European Union, indeed for Europe more generally,  should not be underestimated.  The lessons of the Greek case are of a more general applicability particularly because austerity policies are now applied in many countries in Europe and beyond. These are the reasons which led to the organization of the present conference.

Abstracts and papers should be submitted to: weagreececonference@gmail.com

Conference Leaders

Yannis Dafermos – University of the West of England. Email address: Yannis.Dafermos@uwe.ac.uk  
Marica Frangakis – Formerly with Agricultural Bank of Greece and National Bank of Greece Group. Currently independent researcher. E-mail: frangaki@otenet.gr 
Christos Tsironis –  Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.  E-mail: frangaki@otenet.gr  

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