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

See all articles by Niamh Hardiman

Niamh Hardiman

University College Dublin (UCD)

Joaquim Araújo

University of Minho - Department of International Relations and Public Administration

Muiris MacCarthaigh

Queen's University Belfast

Calliope Spanou

National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Political Science and Public Administration

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

Hardiman, Niamh and Araújo, Joaquim and MacCarthaigh, Muiris and Spanou, Calliope, The Troika's Variations on a Trio: Why the Loan Programmes Worked so Differently in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal (October 17, 2017). UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy, Geary WP2017/11, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3060346 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3060346

Niamh Hardiman (Contact Author)

University College Dublin (UCD) ( email )

Belfield
Belfield, Dublin 4 4
Ireland

Joaquim Araújo

University of Minho - Department of International Relations and Public Administration ( email )

Braga
Portugal

Muiris MacCarthaigh

Queen's University Belfast ( email )

25 University Square
Belfast, BT7 1NN
Ireland

Calliope Spanou

National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Political Science and Public Administration ( email )

6, Themistokleous street
Athens, 10678
Greece
+302103688904 (Phone)

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