An Overview of the Modern Greek Economy

Abstract

Although no economy is problem-free, some can boast of strengths that far outweigh their weaknesses. Not so to-day’s Greece. True, by the mid-1970s the Greek people had managed to house themselves amply and satisfactorily (but at the cost of anarchic, thoughtless city-planning); almost all Greeks nowadays eat well (perhaps too well!¹), whilst many certainly spend more time enjoying themselves than working productively.² Above all, a Greek (or an Australian or a Spaniard) born in 1992 would expect to live longer (76.9 years) than a person from any other country but four: Japan (79.5), Iceland (78.2), Sweden (78.2), and Switzerland (78).³

‘It is indeed desirable to be well descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.’

Plutarch. On the Training of Children.