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Fairly Sharing the Social Impact of the Crisis in Greece

Author

Listed:
  • Vassiliki Koutsogeorgopoulou

    (OECD)

  • Manos Matsaganis

    (Athens University of Economics and Business)

  • Chrysa Leventi

    (University of Essex)

  • Jan-David Schneider

    (European Policy Centre (EPC))

Abstract

Poverty and income inequality have worsened since the onset of the crisis. While the design of fiscal measures has mitigated the burden sharing of fiscal adjustment, as the recession has deepened unemployment has risen, earnings have declined and social tensions have increased. Getting people back to work and supporting the most vulnerable remain priorities for inclusive growth and distributing the costs of adjustment equitably. Within the limited fiscal space this calls for continued reforms in targeting social support, especially housing benefits, extending unemployment insurance and introducing a means-tested minimum income. Sustaining universal access to good health care is also essential. Well-designed activation policies are important to bring the unemployed, especially the young, to work. At the same time, it is important to strengthen the effectiveness of the labour inspection to ensure full enforcement of the labour code. Decisive steps to contain tax evasion are also critical to social fairness. Reforms by the government in many of these areas are welcome and need to continue. Partager équitablement les incidences sociales de la crise en Grèce La pauvreté et les inégalités de revenus se sont aggravées depuis le déclenchement de la crise. Certes, certaines mesures budgétaires ont permis d’alléger le fardeau de l’ajustement, mais à mesure que la récession s’amplifiait, le chômage a augmenté, les revenus ont diminué et les tensions sociales se sont avivées. Les mesures de retour à l’emploi et l’aide aux plus vulnérables restent des priorités pour assurer une croissance inclusive et répartir équitablement les coûts de l’ajustement. Compte tenu de l’étroitesse de la marge de manoeuvre budgétaire, cela suppose de poursuivre les réformes pour mieux cibler l’aide sociale, notamment les prestations au logement, étendre l’assurance-chômage et introduire un revenu minimum sous conditions de ressources. Il est également essentiel d’asseoir durablement un accès universel à des soins de santé de qualité. Par ailleurs, il est important d’engager des politiques actives du marché du travail bien conçues pour insérer les chômeurs, en particulier les jeunes, sur le marché du travail. Parallèlement, il faut renforcer l’efficacité le mécanisme d’inspection du travail pour garantir une application intégrale du code du travail. Enfin, des mesures décisives de lutte contre la fraude fiscale sont aussi indispensables à l’équité sociale. Les réformes adoptées par les pouvoirs publics dans nombre de ces domaines sont les bienvenues et doivent être poursuivies.

Suggested Citation

  • Vassiliki Koutsogeorgopoulou & Manos Matsaganis & Chrysa Leventi & Jan-David Schneider, 2014. "Fairly Sharing the Social Impact of the Crisis in Greece," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1106, OECD Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1106-en
    DOI: 10.1787/5jzb6vwk338x-en
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Hinrichs, Karl, 2015. "In the wake of the crisis: Pension reforms in eight European countries," Working papers of the ZeS 01/2015, University of Bremen, Centre for Social Policy Research (ZeS).
    2. Eirini Andriopoulou & Alexandros Karakitsios & Panos Tsakloglou, 2017. "Inequality and poverty in Greece: Changes in times of crisis," DEOS Working Papers 1705, Athens University of Economics and Business.
    3. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2014. "No exit from the euro-rescuing trap?," MPIfG Discussion Paper 14/4, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    4. Nikolaos Ntemiroglou, 2016. "The Sraffian Multiplier and the Key-Commodities for the Greek Economy: Evidence from the Input-Output Tables for the Period 2000-2010," Bulletin of Political Economy, Bulletin of Political Economy, vol. 10(1), pages 1-24, June.
    5. Grigorakis, Nikolaos & Floros, Christos & Tsangari, Haritini & Tsoukatos, Evangelos, 2016. "Out of pocket payments and social health insurance for private hospital care: Evidence from Greece," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(8), pages 948-959.
    6. Panagiotis Palaios & Evangelia Papapetrou, 2019. "Asymmetric dynamics in the social contributions and social benefits nexus in Greece," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 327-349, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    activation policies; allocations; benefits; ciblage; distributional impact; effet de redistribution; Greece; Grèce; health care; inequality; inspection du travail; inégalité; labour inspection; labour market; marché du travail; pauvreté; pensions; pensions; politique d'activation; poverty; santé; targeting; tax evasion; welfare; évasion fiscale;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • J6 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers

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