Attracting investment to Greece
We shouldn’t be surprised at the country’s inability to attract foreign investment because Greece is expensive, suffers from low levels of productivity and is burdened by a vast, costly bureaucracy and rife corruption. We have the unique talent of combining all the defects of both an emerging and a mature market – because internal corruption is almost always associated with emerging Third World economies, while high labor and service costs are associated with those of the developed world. If Greece does not finally see that it needs to put an end to this vicious cycle, it will never be able to attract foreign investment nor, of course, will it ever achieve a competitive economy. There are those who believe that a good dose of shock therapy will help awaken Greece from its stupor and stir its creative forces and maybe this will come with the realization that our neighbors are making substantial progress in improving their economies. For the time being, however, we are wasting precious time and find ourselves unable to make the necessary decisions, while some continue to insist that Greece has a robust economy.
