The Greek Economy, 1959-1964

A snapshot from the book "Greece", Studio Vista, 1959 (1964 edition):

Back in 1961, Greece received 350,000 foreign visitors. In 1964, agriculture employed 43% of manual workers.

"Greece remains as always a paradise for retired soldiers...The economic transformation which gives the country its air of opulence. Crowded restaurants, tempting window displays, well-dressed people...How can this leisure be maintained, now, in the midst of the rigorous discipline made necessary by an organised, Western European way of life? How can they run with the hares and hunt with the hounds?" (p. 87)

Conclusion? It would seem that for around half a century, a number of European countries have been living beyond their means, and, dare one say it, punching above their weight?

See also, The Greek Economy Before EU Accession

and The Greek Economy, March 1970

C. M. Woodhouse writes, in A Short History of Greece (Heurtley, Darby, Crawley and Woodhouse, Cambridge Univeristy Press, 1965):

"Greece's economic weakness was brought into prominence by the government's desire to join the European Economic Community, or Common Market, created by the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The chronic deficit on the balance of payments combined with an unbalanced budget, of which nearly one-third was devoted to defence, made it seem unlikely that the national economy could stand the strain of participating in the Common Market on equal terms. Moreover, in 1960 the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation reported that Greece's recovery was slowing down."

A rather different picture emerges from Nicholas Gage's "Hellas" (p.89):

"By 1960 the Greek economy was growing at the impressive rate of 8 percent a year".