The Political Economy of Recovery in Southern Europe (2014-2018): A Talk by Manos Matsaganis

In a context of stronger-than-expected growth in the European Union as a whole, the southern periphery seems to be finally out of the woods. Economic activity has picked up, and unemployment is falling. So - nothing to worry about? In this talk I will show that, as a matter of fact, there is plenty to worry about. The legacy of the Eurozone crisis is very much present in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. The effects of the austerity on politics, society, and the economy are likely to cast a long shadow for years to come.

Manos Matsaganis is Associate Professor of Public Finance at Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy. He has published on a variety of topics including pensions, income support, poverty, European social policy, tax evasion, labour taxation, youth unemployment, and health care. His current research focuses on the distributional implications of the Eurozone crisis, the political economy of austerity in Greece, and the effects of the minimum wage on employment, earnings and poverty.