Crisis management in Greece. The shaping of new economic and social balances

The aim of this study was to explore the impact of the crisis and crisis-induced policies on incomes, inequality and poverty in Greece, to detect the types of adjustment and to show why prevailing perceptions and attitudes caused a heavy economic, social and political cost.

Based on extensive income and tax data it investigated the changing relationship between labour, capital and pension income, changes in direct, indirect and property taxation, and their incidence on pre- and post-tax inequality and competitiveness between 2008 and 2012-13. It examined also the losers and the winners and the resulting social reclassifications within the Greek society, the multifaceted types of poverty and inequality and the changing relations between the haves and the haves-not.

The analysis distinguished property and income by main sources at the deciles level, and for the top 1% and 0.1% of the income distribution, at the household and individual level. It coverd the period 2008-2015, depending on the available data. It was shown that many economic and social outcomes were the result of deficient approaches and ideological inflexibilities coupled to established political interests, making the exit from the crisis more complicated and painful.