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Greek Monetary Economics in Retrospect: The Adventures of the Drachma

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  • Sophia Lazaretou

Abstract

This paper enumerates the adventures of the drachma step by step, dividing its story into seven parts. Specifically, its main purpose is to present some historical perspective on the behaviour of the monetary and fiscal policies pursued in Greece during the period from the early 1830s until the introduction of the euro. For Greece, the lessons of historical experience are very important. Since the formation of the modern Greek state, government officials have striven – sometimes making hard efforts – to keep abreast of international monetary developments. This was because they understood that the participation of a peripheral, poor and inflation‐prone country with a weak currency and an underdeveloped money market, like Greece of the time, in a monetary club of powerful economies could improve her international credit standing and imply important benefits in terms of exchange rate and monetary stability, and long‐term foreign borrowing.

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  • Sophia Lazaretou, 2005. "Greek Monetary Economics in Retrospect: The Adventures of the Drachma," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 34(3), pages 331-370, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecnote:v:34:y:2005:i:3:p:331-370
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0391-5026.2005.00154.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Lefteris Tsoulfidis & Michel Zouboulakis, 2016. "Greek Sovereign Defaults in Retrospect and Prospect," South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, vol. 14(2), pages 141-157.
    2. Sideris, Dimitrios, 2006. "Testing for long-run PPP in a system context: Evidence for the US, Germany and Japan," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 143-154, April.
    3. Christos Karpetis & Erotokritos Varelas & Spyros Zikos, 2006. "Unit Root Investigation of Greek Real Money Supply and GDP," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 12(4), pages 449-460, November.
    4. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2014. "A Decade of Debt," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Miguel Fuentes D. & Claudio E. Raddatz & Carmen M. Reinhart (ed.),Capital Mobility and Monetary Policy, edition 1, volume 18, chapter 4, pages 97-135, Central Bank of Chile.
    5. George Chouliarakis & Sophia Lazaretou, 2014. "Deja vu? The Greek crisis experience, the 2010s versus the 1930s. Lessons from history," Working Papers 176, Bank of Greece.
    6. George Hondroyiannis & Sophia Lazaretou, 2007. "Inflation persistence during periods of structural change: an assessment using Greek data," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 34(5), pages 453-475, December.
    7. repec:kap:iaecre:v:12:y:2006:i:4:p:449-460 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Eleni Angelopoulou, 2005. "The Comparative Performance of Q-type and Dynamic Models of Firm Investment: Empirical Evidence from the UK," Working Papers 27, Bank of Greece.
    9. Kalina Dimitrova & Luca Fantacci, 2009. "Financial stability, monetary autonomy and fiscal interference: Bulgaria in search of its way, 1879-1913," SEEMHN papers 3, National Bank of Serbia.
    10. Nicholas G. Zonzilos, 2004. "Econometric Modelling at the Bank of Greece," Working Papers 14, Bank of Greece.
    11. G.-Fivos Sargentis & Romanos Ioannidis & Georgios Karakatsanis & Stavroula Sigourou & Nikos D. Lagaros & Demetris Koutsoyiannis, 2019. "The Development of the Athens Water Supply System and Inferences for Optimizing the Scale of Water Infrastructures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-18, May.
    12. Mr. Ashoka Mody & Ms. Franziska L Ohnsorge, 2007. "Can Domestic Policies Influence Inflation?," IMF Working Papers 2007/257, International Monetary Fund.
    13. George A. Christodoulakis & Stephen E Satchell, 2006. "Exact Elliptical Distributions for Models of Conditionally Random Financial Volatility," Working Papers 32, Bank of Greece.
    14. Carmen M. Reinhart, 2010. "This Time is Different Chartbook: Country Histories on Debt, Default, and Financial Crises," NBER Working Papers 15815, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Wolf, Marvin, 2013. "Währungsunionen und Allmendeproblem," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-521, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    16. Edward Seyler & John Levendis, 2013. "What was the Role of Monetary Policy in the Greek Financial Crisis?," South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, vol. 11(2), pages 117-137.
    17. Sabaté, Marcela & Fillat, Carmen & Escario, Regina, 2019. "Budget deficits and money creation: Exploring their relation before Bretton Woods," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 38-56.
    18. George Chouliarakis & Tadeusz Gwiazdowski & Sophia Lazaretou, 2016. "The Effect of Fiscal Policy on Output in Times of Crisis and Prosperity: Historical Evidence From Greece ," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 230, Economics, The University of Manchester.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions
    • N23 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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