Greece’s financial crisis provides long-needed reform opportunity, Baker Institute expert says

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David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Jeff Falk
713-348-6775
jfalk@rice.edu

Greece’s financial crisis provides long-needed reform opportunity, Baker Institute expert says

HOUSTON – (Feb. 24, 2015) – The threat of bankruptcy hanging over Greece and the risk that Greece might have to leave the eurozone and the 28-member European Union continue to dominate headlines in Europe this week. However, a “Grexit” does not have to be all bad, according to Russell Green, an economist at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

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“In fact, if the eurozone countries use the crisis to push through long-needed reforms, they could wind up in a much stronger position in the long run,” Green said. “The eurozone has been in need of just such an existential crisis to provide the proverbial kick in the pants to its members to commit to greater fiscal burden sharing. If European leaders play their cards right, they can leverage fear of an eurozone breakup to overcome previous political hurdles to greater fiscal integration.”

Green, the Baker Institute’s Will Clayton Fellow in International Economics and an adjunct assistant professor of economics at Rice, is available to comment on the European economic crisis and the implications of the Greek debt negotiations.

For more information or to interview Green, contact Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

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Related materials:

Green biography: http://bakerinstitute.org/experts/russell-green.

Founded in 1993, Rice University’s Baker Institute ranks among the top 10 university-affiliated think tanks in the world. As a premier nonpartisan think tank, the institute conducts research on domestic and foreign policy issues with the goal of bridging the gap between the theory and practice of public policy. The institute’s strong track record of achievement reflects the work of its endowed fellows, Rice University faculty scholars and staff, coupled with its outreach to the Rice student body through fellow-taught classes — including a public policy course — and student leadership and internship programs. Learn more about the institute at www.bakerinstitute.org or on the institute’s blog, http://blogs.chron.com/bakerblog.