Evaluating the Impact of Labour Market Reforms in Greece during 2010-2018

Contributor(s): Professor Nikos Vettas | In the context of three consecutive bail out programs, the Greek state legislated and implemented various reforms aiming to restore its fiscal sustainability and external competitiveness. In this context, the most significant and radical structural reforms took place in the labour market. This public lecture will evaluate the impact of Greek labour market reforms on microeconomic incentives of individuals in relation to entering the formal labour market and estimate the impact of labour market reforms on selected macroeconomic and social indicators. Nikos Vettas is the General Director of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) since 2013 and a Professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business since 2003, where he has served as the Chairman of the Economics Department and a member of the University Council. Has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and has been an Associate Professor at Duke University and a visiting Professor at INSEAD. He serves as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Industrial Organization, a Research Fellow at CEPR, and member of the Executive Committee of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics. He has been an Associate Editor of the Journal of the European Economic Association and of the Journal of Industrial Economics, a member of the Hellenic Competition Commission and of the Economic Advisory Group for Competition Policy at the EC. Since 2002, a co-organizer of the annual Conference for Research on Economic Theory and Econometrics. His research has been published in leading journals such as the International Economic Review, European Economic Review, Rand Journal of Economics, and the Review of Economic Studies. He is co-editor of “Beyond Austerity: Reforming the Greek Economy”, MIT Press, 2017. Vassilis Monastiriotis is an economist and economic geographer by training, specialising in three areas of Labour Economics, Economic Geography and Political Economy. He has significant policy engagement on all three areas, including appointments in Experts Committees (e.g., on Regional Incentives policy and on Minimum Wage policy in Greece) and work with international bodies such as the European Commission (DG Regio, DG EMPL, DG EAC), the CEFTA Secretariat and the EBRD. He has published widely in economics and regional science journals, including Oxford Economic Papers, the British Journal of Industrial Relations, Journal of Regional Science, Regional Studies, Urban Studies, and others. The Hellenic Observatory (@HO_LSE) is internationally recognised as one of the premier research centres on contemporary Greece and Cyprus. It engages in a range of activities, including developing and supporting academic and policy-related research; organisation of conferences, seminars and workshops; academic exchange through visiting fellowships and internships; as well as teaching at the graduate level through LSE's European Institute.