Economic Advisors from Greece Among Panelists to Discuss ‘Greek and European Crisis’
Experts with an insider’s perspective of the Greece and European financial crisis will discuss the situation at The University of Scranton on Tuesday, March 6. The discussion, which is free of charge and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. with a presentation by Herakles Polemarchakis, Ph.D., who served as the economic advisory for the Greek Socialist Party and to the former Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou.
Dr. Polemarchakis will then join other international experts and University of Scranton Kania School of Management faculty members in a panel discussion. Panelists include Georgios Chortareas, Ph.D., who served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers for the Ministry of Finance for Greece; Laurence Kotlikoff, Ph.D., an economics professor at Boston University, with extensive experience with international banking and finance organizations; Pennsylvania State Senator John Blake; and the University of Scranton economics and finance professors Jordan Petsas, Ph.D., John Kallianiotis, Ph.D., Christos Pargianas, Ph.D., and Susan Trussler, Ph.D.
The panel discussion, which is free of charge and open to the public, will allow students and community members to hear first-hand about the Greek and European crisis which is being closely watched throughout the world.
Recent news stories indicate that European Commission is predicting a mild recession for 2012, as the 27 countries of the European Union try to come to terms with the financial crisis in Greece that includes the recent commitment to a $172 billion bailout.
A Feb. 23 article in The Washington Post reported, “The agreement was in some ways an acknowledgment of Europe’s overall vulnerability, analysts said, since few believe the country will reach sustainable borrowing and spending levels by 2020, the stated goal of the bailout deal.”
“The recent deal signed by Greece is, in my opinion, a disastrous anti-growth plan,” said Dr. Kallianiotis in an editorial published recently in Politico and The Washington Times. “If we allow the troika from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank to impose this plan on Greece, we will soon learn that a country cannot grow with high taxes and draconian reductions in salaries. We need exactly the opposite public policies.”
The lecture and panel discussion will be held in the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center. The event is sponsored by the Department of Economics and Finance of the University’s Kania School of Management, the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, the International Business Club, and the Finance Club. For additional information, call (570) 941-4048.
Dr. Polemarchakis is a graduate of both Harvard and Yale universities, and is currently a professor of economics at the University of Warwick, England. He previously served as economic adviser for the Greek Socialist Party. From 2010-2011, he served as director of the Economic Office of the Prime Minister in Greece. In addition, he has held positions such as director for Centre for Planning and Economic Research in Greece.
Dr. Kotlikoff is a professor of economics at Boston University and research associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research. He served as a fellow in the Bank of England and held various positions as a visiting scholar and consultant in numerous international organizations and institutions such as IMF, World Bank, Bank of Italy, Bank of England, and the Swedish Ministry Finance.
Dr. Chortareas is a professor of macroeconomics at the University of Athens and worked at the Bank of England and the University of Essex as a reader (associate professor) in international finance. He is president of the European Economics and Finance Society (EEFS) and served as a member of Greece’s Council of Economic Advisors.
Sen. Blake represents the 22nd Senate District of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which includes Lackawanna County and parts of Luzerne and Monroe counties. He served as chief operating officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) in Harrisburg and as vice president for PNC Bank’s Community Development Division. He is also an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Economics and Finance at The University of Scranton.
