Greece would be better off outside the eurozone, Krugman tells Athens Democracy Forum

Greece would be better off outside the eurozone, American economist and op-ed columnist for The New York Times Paul Krugman told the Athens Democracy Forum Wednesday.

Responding to a question by executive editor of Kathimerini newspaper Alexis Papachelas, the Nobel Prize-winning economist said: “the question is academic… it won’t happen.”

European elites, Krugman said, are deeply committed to maintaining the integrity of the euro area.

Speaking of Greece’s left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Krugman said that his reluctance to take Greece out of the euro had effectively depleted the debt-hit country's bargaining power vis-a-vis the country’s foreign lenders.

The Athens Democracy Forum is organised by The New York Times in cooperation with the United Nations Democracy Fund, the City of Athens and Kathimerini.