Is your own country completely different from Greece, or isn't it?
A simple self-administered Economic Greekness Test puts your mind at rest
"We are all Greeks now" as a riposte is almost as common. It comes from those sitting slightly to the left, standing shoulder to shoulder against the common neoliberal threat.
Is your own country really different from Greece? How much separates you from those unhappy Greeks, other of course than those few hundreds of nautical miles of the Adriatic sea?
The simple Economic Greeknest Test that follows can put your mind to rest, so that those agonizing sleepless nights can be a thing of the past.
A number of simple statements follow. These statements or thoughts capture certain aspects of the way politicians, trade unionists or political commentators used to think in these innocent days before Greece needed a bail out. They distil in a sense ‘political wisdom’ about how a politically intelligent actor should proceed about the day-to-day decisions that governing a country throws at you every so often. Some of these statements you may recognise in your country ; others you may not; even others you may have heard someone suggesting who may have been booed down as totally irresponsible. Perhaps some you may even think would be a good idea, provided you can get away with it. Taken together these statements will help you quantify exactly how Greek you or your country is, was or could be.
This is how the test works. There are 20 statements. After each statement, think about your own experience. You are given a chance to give a different answer for your own personal case and for everyone else in your country/union/newspaper. Placing your right hand on your heart, you will next think whether your reply is:
1: Yes, this happens in my country a lot.
2: I have heard it quite often, though not as rule
3: It is not unknown; I have heard it in isolated cases
4: Never!!!
THE 20-Question ECONOMIC GREEKNESS TEST™
Statements about Governance/ political economy to assess the degree of similarity/ difference with Greece. Can you say the same thing in your own case? | Degree of agreement: | |
FOR ME | FOR EVERYONE ELSE | |
"When a difficult choice has to be taken, we postpone it and think about it after the next elections" | ||
When my union wants a rise but our incomes policy has a maximum % increase in monthly salaries, I think it is good idea to keep within the policy, but offer instead an extra monthly package. There is nothing wrong if a 12 month period (conventionally called a year) has 14, 15 or even 18 pay packets. " | ||
“When austerity becomes unavoidable, but a strike is threatened just before an election, I think it clever to pay salaries from the investment budget . That way we have austerity and no strike" | ||
"I see nothing wrong when a graduate student points out that a pension to a State electricity Company employee receives four times greater public subsidy than a pension for a woman cleaner" | ||
“I think that giving women a pension at 50 years of age is a good idea, because it redresses the gender balance. (and keeps the competition low for managerial advancement)” | ||
“Pensions should be high because grandmothers give pocket money to their unemployed grandchildren" | ||
“When economics professors analyse income distribution data and conclude that income inequality is increasing, I make sure such data are never again released to the public. In this way I avoid many embarrassing questions"* | ||
Rather than having people complaining that there are too many people working for the public sector, I make sure that all new ones are employed under different contracts and paid off budget. That way no one knows what is the public sector salary bill is and I can sleep easy. "* | ||
“There is no point to offer social services to immigrants, as they don't vote"* | ||
"Giving a blind person's allowance to a taxi driver you know works hard and is a family man is only a recognition that he is a deserving case. It's not his fault if the system of social protection does not have a benefit for his case. In the meantime, we should do all we can to be socially just; we may correct it afterwards " | ||
“Those who put budgets and numbers before the people's suffering are heartless and should go back to Chicago where they belong" | ||
“You happily approve of one policy direction in the European Council but then pursue a different policy domestically. There is nothing wrong with saying different things to different people, unless they talk to each other”. * | ||
“Your union is pressing for a clearly inflationary wage increase. You think it is not your job to worry about the macroeconomy; others are paid to do this” | ||
“Your (public sector) union is pressing for labour conditions that the private sector cannot afford. You think you are doing them a favour by providing something for them to aim for” | ||
Competitiveness is just a trick to keep unions in check. | ||
A statistical indicator shows something you don’t like. You change that indicator. | ||
Gender balance is fine when the economy is growing. In the crisis you have to worry first about heads of family who have to feed all these mouths. | ||
A country’s contribution to European Civilisation should entitle it to special treatment, e.g. larger deficits. ( as in “When we were building the Parthenon, others were living in tents”). | ||
You do your utmost to combat tax evasion. However, it is not polite to worry aloud where your friend’s yacht which you use for weekends came from | ||
Your country is an innocent victim of a flawed Euro design. It was the Germans’ fault all the time. | ||
TOTAL EGT SCORE | ||
* For politicians and aspiring politicians only.
What is your own EGT score? What is the EGT score for everyone else?
Is the EGT score more than 70?
You have nothing to fear. A chasm separates you from Greece and Greek economic behaviour. You can lecture everyone else fearlessly.
Is the EGT score less than 30?
Talk to your mother about possible Greek ancestors. Those ancient Greek verbs you learned at school had a worse effect than you thought. Go to the German embassy ASAP.
Is the EGT score between 50 and 70 ?
You are basically OK, but you should still take Milton Friedman and Hayek with you to read on those Greek holidays.
Is the EGT score between 30 and 50 ?
Greeks before 2009 also thought they were behaving like other Europeans, only more so. That’s why most of them feel so betrayed by the world. You may also feel the same.
Now you have established how economically Greek you yourself are, it is time to compare your own level of Greekness with that of everyone around you. Remembering basic algebra subtract everyone elses’ EGT score from your own.
Large positive result: You are a born reformer. You may console yourself that Moses also was very lonely until God proved that he was right. However, you have history on your side.
Large negative result: You are a Greek among barbarians. Enjoy it while you can.
Moderately Positive : Do people look the other way when you enter a bar?
Moderately Negative: You are popular with most people except for central bankers.
After the test has finished, you may also want to reflect on a few lessons:
- · The Greek disaster was not caused by a natural calamity. It was caused by structural and institutional factors, what we may call the Micro-Foundations of Disaster. These may not be unique to Greece, or not necessarily.
- · The map of the world can always be redrawn and Greece be relegated to an African outpost, or even a Near Eastern extension. However, some at least of the opinions that pushed Greece to the edge exist elsewhere. Some of them may be even considered in your country as politically very clever. Greece may leave the Euro; it’s harder to get Greekness to follow.
- · Learning to recognise the signs of impending Greekness is an important immunisation procedure.
- The danger lurks that economic Greekness may (after some painful adjustment) cease to be an exclusive feature of Greece and may even move North and West.
