Inequality and poverty in Greece: 'Myths, realities and the crisis'

"Inequality and poverty in Greece: 'Myths, realities and the crisis"


By Chrysa Leventi (Athens University of Economics and Business), Manos Matsaganis (Athens University of Economics and Business), Theodore Mitrakos (Bank of Greece), Panos Tsakloglou (Athens University of Economics and Business & IZA).

1. Introduction

"In recent years, distributional issues are almost always in the centre of the Greek public discourse while, at the same time, many aspects of inequality, poverty and the redistributive role of the state have been investigated in depth. Nevertheless, many assertions made in the public discourse are sometimes contradictory (for example, claims that inequality is due to sharp class differences and assertions that the Greek society is dominated by an oversized middle class), in some instances unsubstantiated (for example, statements about the distributional effects of the recent austerity measures) and in other cases in sharp contrast to the findings of the empirical studies (for example, the often heard claim that in recent decades inequality and poverty are constantly rising). The objective of this paper is to shed light in some of these allegations by presenting empirical findings on the inter-temporal trends and the structure of inequality and poverty in Greece, as well as on the distributional effects of the austerity measures adopted as a consequence of the current economic crisis".

Inequality Greece