Economists Krugman and Stiglitz on Why Greeks Should Vote ‘No’ on the Referendum - Truthdig
Economists Krugman and Stiglitz on Why Greeks Should Vote ‘No’ on the Referendum
Now that Greece has become the first advanced nation to fall into arrears with the International Monetary Fund, the nation has reached a crucial crossroads: Should it concede to the demands of the “troika” — the institutions representing creditor interests—or continue to reject austerity and prepare to ditch the euro?
Amid mass protests, tumbling markets and bank closures, Greece will hold a referendum Sunday to decide.
Recent opinion pieces by Nobel Prize-winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman maintain that Greece must keep going it alone and vote no.
Stiglitz writes in The Guardian “... the economics behind the programme that the ‘troika’ (the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund) foisted on Greece five years ago has been abysmal, resulting in a 25% decline in the country’s GDP. I can think of no depression, ever, that has been so deliberate and had such catastrophic consequences: Greece’s rate of youth unemployment, for example, now exceeds 60%.”
