Article

 

IMPERIALIST EXPLOITATION AND THE GREEK CRISIS (p.43-64)

by

Stavros MAVROUDEAS, UNIVERSITY OF MACEDONIA

Stergios SERETIS , ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI

Keywords : Imperialism, Greece, Transfers of value, Unequal exchange

JEL classification : B51, E11, F45, F54

Abstract

In previous works (e.g. Mavroudeas & Paitarides (2015b)) it has been argued that the post-2007 long duration crisis of Greek capitalism has two intertwined causes. The internal cause stems from the falling profitability trend caused by the increase of the organic composition of capital. The external cause stems from the economic imperialist exploitation of Greek capitalism by the more developed and hegemonic capitalisms of the EU. Economic imperialist exploitation implies the transfer of value from the exploited economy to the exploiting through broad unequal exchange (that is unequal exchange caused by the difference in the organic compositions of capital between the two economies). Mavroudeas & Paitaridis (2015b) offered an indirect proof of this exploitation mechanism by comparing Greece’s terms of trade with those of two similar EU economies (one participating also in the EMU and the other participating only in the Common Market). This paper supplements that proof by measuring directly the value transfers between Greece and two other EU economies.