First of all, I want to show Europe Convergency Indicator plots that show the wealthiest nations according to descending percentiles in terms of Eurostat GDP per Capita 2025 and measure a converging region to have growth higher than 10% percentile wealthiest regions median structural growth rate in GDP per Capita 2015-2025 and not converging regions are below that growth rate in a gif.
Greece is quite poor in European comparison and not converging: do we have issues in Greece with educations and technologies acuiring or what?
100%-percentile
Currently France, Italy, Sweden and Finnland, lots of Spain and Greece are not converging with the wealthier regions, that are quite scarce and with the 10th percentile look like tax heaven regions. Lots of East Europe and Turkey is converging, while Germany is rather scattered in converging and not converging smaller areas.
European people from diverse regions are talking about following:
- Greece is the country that went into the Euro that was not ready for currency developments and developed issues, we discuss below.
- Bulgaria has gotten better with lots of construction, work and impots achiveable, that are about increasing – lets say – ordinary day life with machines. Bulgaria is still quite poor but it is growing with about 6% growth rate and is a good example of convergency that was developed with getting infrastructures and educations developed!
- France is not that industrialized country but has very often wine and aggriculture regions, that dont grow that fast, but we understand to have problems with the regions that are more industrialized.
Structure of Europe (Main Sectors)
Europes greates economical sectors are with manufacturing and trade. It’s rather the sea regions, that are more active in trade and it’s rather the central east, that is mainly a manufacturing area.
Somehow trade regions seem to be correlated to not converging regions and growth is more with manufacturing and industrialized regions.
Structural Growth
Europe has a structural growth rate arround three percent with higher growth rates in East Europe and Irland (Immaterial property rights situation?). The growth rates in East Europe are about six percent.
People talk about growth rates that look quite good, but in the international comparison the USA and others growed even faster and we are not converging even in Germany and France compared to the richest 10% of the world (see: World Convergency).
In Germany we discuss some frictions with qualifications and boycotts of innovations due to unemployments. Out of a – still holding – observation perspective getting innovations and efficiencies – with still normal work situations not that demanding and workabale – are about a temporal unemployment with developments of new work perspectives that are about a increase of buyable products with time budgets working. Older people often talk about inflations but not that they also got more income and that they netto were capable to buy lots more! For example cars a few decades ago werend achievable for ordinary people. Such boycots and inefficiencies with not qulified organisations, that aren’t working with good management and administration as well as modernization workforce and research and development employees are most probably the reason, why we are not converging anymore in terms of world comparisons. We discuss requirements for certain positions in kept actually educations ansd qualifications as well as public discussions to understand what we gain with unemployments with rationalisations as a society and as individuals.
Unemployment
Central and North Europa have lower unemployments, while south regions have higher (seasonal?) unemployments. It’s especially the tourist regions with higher unemployments.
People often understand tourism to have higher unemployment because it is seasonal and jobs acyclic are not developed. What is winter production in such regions?
Germany
For Germany out of a EU-Perspective, the Convergence Incicator Plots look like this:
100%-percentile
Germany is quite scattered in converging and not converging regions, but it is rather north regions and south-east Germany that is converging, while middle and south-west Germany is rather not converging. Usually growth has to do with innovations that require know-how and work to realize ideas in projects to enhance businesses. We some how lack skills, know-how and / or will to innovate or have issues with financing of such endeavours.
Germany Compared to National 10th-Percentile Wealthiest Regions
For Germany out of a national perspective the plots look like following:
The picture is quite similiar.
Greece
Europes poorest not converging region should be Greece and a plot about convergency out of EU-Perspective looks like this, but here colors are different than intuitive: green is a not converging region and only the capital is wealthy:
Greece Structurally
Greece is mainly about trade and tourism as well as services. It has no areas that are mainly manufacturing areas like in East Europe.
Greece Structural Unemployments
Greece – in anual measurements – has lots of unemployments up to 22 %. This is – education required – an incentive to invest in Greece if (seasonal) workforce can be acuired. It is quite strange, that whole East Europe is converging, while Greece workforce is left behind.
Greece Structural Growth
The structural growth rate of about 2% in Greece seems rather small compared to Germany for example, but the 10th-Wealthiest-Percentil of 3,7 % is a quite high benchmark. Germany historically growth at about 3,4 % in average. The growth rate is dependend on innovations – inventions that get worked out – and to some degree on capital stocks, because savings equal investments in financial markets and the capital stock is growing with savings and investment in physical and immaterial production capabilities. It maybe is reasonable to increase savings and investments in Greece and forster Innovation as well as Foreign DIrect Investments into Greece with lots of personell capacities usually quite educated kinds. It’s rather strange, that Greece is left behind, while complete East Europe is growing fast.
Speak of mouth
People talk about missing universities and equipments in Greece, that is a rather not that industrialized agriculture periphery with much tourism and not that much education or state present in the periphery. People reason that an infrastructure project is what is best to finance, but the corruptions are not working out without good money management.
Analysis, I can remember
The central issue, that was discussed in the huge financial crisis with Greece, was an contracting in terms of wages, that does not fit with the situation to have a common currency: Greece wages were to high for their productivity and they got unemployments because companies could not make profits with that high wages, because products were to expensive in european and international market situations. Greece can reduce wages either over unemployments or by changing the way the contracting of wages works. If they stick with their wage-bets of too high kinds, a own currency just devalues and we do not face unemployments but worse terms of trade, that reduce imports. Greece is a problem in the currency union to undervalue different other states, that got problems with low key interest rates, that produce a syndrom of problems in the more productive countries e. g. Germany. Situations out of my own persective are about to less information about Greece, to understand what is going wrong. What we would expect is high growth and convergency as in all east Europe.