The Greek Economic Structure in the 2000's: A Road to Crisis?

The Greek economy has undergone a deep economic crisis, following the international financial disarray of 2008. It has been widely agreed that a number of signals conveyed the need to reconsider the long-run development strategy, but the Greek economy had been growing quicker than most of Europe at least since the 1960's. Short-term difficulties need not have triggered a major crisis. The question is whether the economic structure by the early 2010's explains such development. This paper searches for connections between that structure and the macroeconomic problems that the economy has encountered, regarding external deficits, employment, productivity and growth. Results suggest that structural change is a condition if Greece is to regain self-sustained growth in the long run.