Three successive crises and a golden opportunity

Equality and justice all around, raises in salaries and pensions, prosperity for everyone; radical improvements in the public health and education systems; modernizing the public administration; protecting the primary residences of debtors from repossession; reintroducing collective bargaining and labor agreements; bolstering small and medium-sized businesses; and helping farmers and the less privileged members of our society: With few exceptions, these are the promises every party makes in its program. It is a very long list, which essentially refers to the long-standing problems of the Greek economy and society. It is if all the parties agree that there are big problems everywhere and that they need to be addressed. The question is how, when the lavish handouts being promised only perpetuate these problems.

The "Growth Plan for Greece," also known as the Pissarides report...