For its sheer intensity and duration, the Greek crisis has been quite unprecedented. One measure says it all – real income per capita declined every single year between 2007 and 2013, a cumulated drop of 26%. Since then, it has barely risen. To put the Greek crisis in perspective, we compare it in Figure 1 with the sample of all ‘Trifecta crises’ since 1980 – the combination of a sudden stop with output collapse, a sovereign debt crisis, and a lending boom/bust. This is the who’s who of financial crises, a distinguished group that includes Argentina and Turkey in 2001, Ecuador in 1999, Indonesia and Russia in 1998, Chile and Uruguay in ... (Read the full story)
