Marxist and neo-Keynesian economists unite in arguing that European economic and monetary union has made the rich countries the creditors of the poor ones. But this analysis does not fully explain what is happening in Greece.

Among those responsible for this Greek tragedy is a political class that used votes as goods of exchange. Each time a party won an election the public sector expanded , says Panos Kazakos, a professor at the University of Athens. After all, establishing a limited company required the presentation of 200 pages of certificates, he notes, while a public sector desk job could be had just by tapping the right contacts.

Since votes were bought, no one paid much attention to economic policy: today’s situation makes clear the perfidy of this oversight.