NEW YORK – With many analysts believing Greece will take decades to recover from a crushing economic crisis, a Greek economics professor at LIU Post in New York wrote in Forbes that it will rise again.
Panos Mourdoukoutas wrote that, “Greece may not find its old glory days anytime soon, but it will rise again from the swamp of the recent six-year long depression, offering great opportunities for long-term investors. Democracy and human development will pave the way for the rise.”:
With the Radical Left SYRIZA-led coalition having agreed to harsh terms for release of more monies from a staggered third bailout of 86 billion euros ($91.28 billion) – but also more of the kind of austerity that has devastated society – Mourdoukoutas said that despite thousands of protests that Greece “has managed to maintain social cohesion throughout the crisis.”
But, he cautioned: “The bad news is that Greece hasn’t managed to escape from an old villain — a big and corrupt government sector that strangles the private sector, as evidenced by Greece’s corruption and economic freedom rankings.
“But democracy will eventually change this situation, placing in office a leader who will deal with corruption by scaling back the size of the government sector, and by paving the way for the country to return to markets and reschedule its debt.
He didn’t indicate whether he was referring to New Democracy’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who holds a big lead over Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has plummeted in popularity after reneging on anti-austerity promises, including further cuts in pensions to the elderly he vowed to protect.
Mourdoukoutas said on Greece’s side is human development, an index in which Greece ranks among the top thirty countries in the world as well as the high level of education of graduates, although scores of thousands have fled, seeking jobs and better lives in other countries.
“Democratic institutions and high levels of human development will help Greece get out of the unprecedented depression it has slid into, and rise again. All it takes is a nudge, a few pro market measures that will release the ingenuity and creativity of its people,” he said, taking a minority view of optimism with many economists and analysts pessimistic Greece will come back for decades.
The post Greek Professor at Long Island University Says Greece Coming Back appeared first on The National Herald.