Greece Case Study

The austerity measures that were implemented in Greece in 2011 with the goal of building a stronger economy had significant effects on the Greek population. The financial crisis and the fiscal programs largely affected the psyche of the population. Greece saw a major increase in the number of suicides from 2001 to 2011. A case study provided from the department of Psychiatry in the University of Athens illustrates greatly illustrates this fact. According to the data acquired from the ELSTAT (Hellenic Statistical Authority) a total number of 4,133 suicides out of 100,000 inhabitants, who were the specific study group in this case, committed in this decade. Specifically, the suicide rate increased by 38.4% between the years of 2001 to 2011; in

Greece is the birthplace of today’s most popular form of government: democracy. Greece is also a beautiful country with a very rich culture and traditions, serving as a summer attraction for more than 15 million people every year. Greece’s influence in our daily lives is apparent around the whole world. We find characteristics of Greece’s culture in the literature we study, the buildings we work and live in, the food we eat and the artistic features of our entertainment. However, not even Greece’s bright and honorable past can avoid this brutal crisis that has affected various sectors of the country along with its population. Greece joined the EU in 1981 and two decades later, in 2001, Greece abandoned the Drachma (the old currency) and adopted the Euro. This decision, even today, has been controversial and has been the cause of many discussions and

This financial crisis has caused great problems to Greece, primarily but not limited to an increase in poverty, unemployment and inequality. Greece’s decline started in 2001 when they joined the Euro. From the beginning, Greece never satisfied the criteria of the Maastricht Treaty. The treaty, which forms the basis of European Union selection standards, utilized a set of criteria that a country would have to gratify in order to participate in the Euro. “Countries were required to have annual budget deficits not exceeding 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), public debt under 60 percent of GDP, inflation rates within 1.5 percent of the three lowest inflation rates in the EU, and exchange-rate stability” . In particular, Greece’s public debt ratio was at the value of 126.4% of GDP. Many records and interviews show that Goldman Sachs and its president Gary D. Cohne assisted Greece by “fixing” the books and formulating some transactions that eventually resulted in Greece suspiciously filling all the requirements and joining the Eurozone . This “immoral” decision to join the Euro, while having an economy that couldn’t support this position, created another greater need for loans. Greece needed the funds to keep the economy running while the “strong” neighboring countries needed Greece to have a healthy economy. Without a second thought, many members and institutions of the