More on Greece

[Brad De Long]

>... but unlike Roumania and Albania, Greece had a lot
>more cultural, social, political, economic ties to the West.  Maybe it wasn't
>"exceptionalism," but I really don't think Greece had the temperment/social
>structure for a Hoxha or Ceaucescu-type regime  For example, the Greek
>shipping industry played a big part in both WW II transport and post-war oil
>development.  Capitalists had a lot more power than in these other economies.
> Though I don't have the exact stats, I'd say that Greece had a lot more
>potential (agriculture, shipping, refinery, etc.) in 1950 than either
>Roumania or Albania.  Also, it was possible to get a decent education, and I
>suspect that the ratio of [engineers+ other technocrats]/population by 1960
>also affected future development.   Finally, there was a lot of finanical
>support going back to relatives in Greece.  All of my mom's family in NYC
>regularly sent money back to uncles and cousins - this was especially true
>during the 1950s when times were pretty tough for rural folks.
>
>Jason

I think you are right that a really-existing-socialist Greece from 1945 to
1990 might well have done better economically than Albania or Romania--it
might have been on a par with Poland, or Czechoslovakia, or Hungary (or
Slovenia). But the opportunities for political and cultural opening were
not more greater in Poland than it was in Romania...

Brad DeLong