Economic history of Greece and the Greek world

[1] The Minoan civilization emerged on Crete around the time of the early Bronze Age, it had a wide range of economic interests and was something of a trade hub, exporting many items to mainland Greece as well as the Egyptian Empire of the period.We also know from archaeological evidence that Minoan artisans practiced a large range of craftsmanship jobs including scribes, potters, metalworkers, leather workers, glass and faience artists, painters, sculptors, engravers, and jewelers.Agriculture was highly organised and this becomes apparent by the written records of deliveries of land produce, taxes in kind due to the palace, a hare set aside for the gods and so forth.[7] Athens emerged as the dominant economic power in Greece around the late 6th century BCE, this was further bolstered by the finding of several veins of silver in the neighbouring mountains which further added to their wealth.Again, pots and other forms of cooking utensils seem to have been the most quantitatively traded product (over 80,000 amphorae and other such things have been recovered from around Athens in archaeological digs).The agricultural conditions which caused Athens to import grain began to create political turmoil around 600 BCE It is believed that tenant farmers were paying rent equivalent to a sixth of their production, hence they were known as "sixth-parters."In its prime, Rhodes was however, due to its status as a prize port, a frequent target of piracy and for this reason the Rhodian Government of the time set up a swift and efficient fleet of fast pirate chasing vessels to combat this.In most areas, free citizens farmed with the help of a slave or two, while other traditional forms of dependent labor also persisted— helots in Sparta, serfs in Crete.[12] The Mainland Greece gave way to Western Asia Minor and Alexandria as the economic and cultural centers of de ranging fame owing to the library and its significance in relation to Alexander the Great himself.It was essentially a continuation of the old Roman economy but with a shift in trade flow towards the newly burgeoning Greek city on the Bosphorus rather than Rome itself."Greece had a substantial wealthy commercial class of rural notables and island shipowners, and access to 9,000,000 acres (36,000 km2) of land expropriated from Muslim owners who had been driven off during the War of Independence.These farms were too small for prosperity but the land reform signaled the goal of a society in which Greeks were equals and could support themselves, instead of working for hire on the estates of the rich.Greeks held 45% of the capital in the Ottoman Empire before 1914,[16] and many of the refugees expelled from Turkey had funds and skills which they quickly put to use in Greece.Although worker productivity rose significantly in Greece, labor costs increased too fast for the Greek manufacturing industry to remain competitive in Europe.For a brief period, the drachma was pegged to the US dollar, but this was unsustainable given the country's large trade deficit and the only long-term effects of this were Greece's foreign exchange reserves being almost totally wiped out in 1932.Protectionist policies coupled with a weak drachma, stifling imports, allowed the Greek industry to expand during the Great Depression.The dictatorial regime of Ioannis Metaxas took over the Greek government in 1936, and economic growth was strong in the years leading up to the Second World War.Tycoons such as Aristotle Onassis also aided in strengthening the Greek merchant fleet, and shipping has remained one of the few sectors in which Greece still excels.[22] Greece is fifth in terms of registration, the reason for this is a number of Greek captains register their ships under the Cypriot flag, which is easy due to linguistic and cultural commonalities, and significantly where there are lower taxes.In terms of registration, Cyprus has the third largest merchant fleet, and the majority of these ships are actually owned by Greeks, but sailing under the Cypriot flag for tax purposes.Despite concerns, tourism grew significantly in Greece and was encouraged by successive governments as it was a very easy source of badly needed foreign exchange revenues.[20] Greece managed to implement the reforms according to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) ahead of schedule, with prices generally rising to meet those in the rest of the EC.[21] While farm incomes rose slightly after Greece's entry into the EC, this has not stopped the general trend of an ever decreasing agricultural sector which is in line with other European countries.Greece was also dependent on food imports, and a British naval blockade coupled with transfers of agricultural produce to Germany led to famine.[21] The second oil shock after the Iranian Revolution hurt Greece, and the 80s were racked by high inflation as politicians pursued populist policies.Nonetheless, Greece was able to dramatically improve its finances during the 1990s, with both inflation and budget deficit falling below 3% by 1999, and the government concealed economic problems.[24] Thus, it met the criteria for entry into Eurozone (including the budget deficit criterion even after its recent revision calculated with the method in force at the time).[25] Greece experienced a sustained depression with the onset of the Global Financial Crisis, as real GDP per capita declined by 20% over the period 2007–2017.[28] Having spent four and a half years in opposition to SYRIZA's government, right-wing New Democracy regained its majority in the parliament, returning to power under Kyriakos Mitsotakis after the 2019 Greek legislative election.[31] In 2024, the Greek economy is forecast to grow nearly 3%, meaning it approaches its pre-crisis size of 2009 and far outpacing the euro zone average economic growth of 0.8%.