Euro Crisis: Is Austerity Policy of Secondary Importance to the Collapse in Greece's Economic Output?

Renate Neubäumer, University of Koblenz-Landau, analyses developments in demand in Greece between 2000 and 2013 and comes to the conclusion that fiscal policy was of secondary importance to the collapse in Greece's economic output. The decline in other demand components, primarily in residential construction but also in private consumption and other asset investments, which started before the onset of austerity policy, played a far more crucial role.