The Troika's Variations on a Trio: Why the Loan Programmes Worked so Differently in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal
UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy, Geary WP2017/11
30 Pages Posted: 28 Oct 2017
Date Written: October 17, 2017
Abstract
Portugal and Ireland exited Troika loan programmes; Greece did not. The conventional narrative is that different outcomes are best explained by differences in national competences in implementing programme requirements. This paper argues that three factors distinguish the Greek experience from that of Ireland and Portugal: different economic, political, and institutional starting conditions; the ad hoc nature of the European institutions’ approach to crisis resolution; and the very different conditionalities built into each of the loan programmes as a result. Ireland and Portugal show some signs of recovery despite austerity measures, but Greece has been burdened beyond all capacity to recover convincingly.
Keywords: Loan programme, Eurozone crisis, Troika, European periphery, conditionality
JEL Classification: E02, E62, G01, H30, H77, H87
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation