Media advisory: Professors can comment on Greek debt crisis

LAWRENCE — Professors at the University of Kansas are available to discuss the Greek debt crisis and European Union involvement.

The Greek government ordered its banks to remain closed this week, and it limited ATM cash withdrawals. The government also faces the prospect of having to default on a $1.8 billion payment due to the International Monetary Fund today and ultimately having to abandon the euro. While most Greeks and most members of the eurozone claim they want to keep Greece in the euro, negotiations with the EU aimed at preventing precisely that result have hit an impasse.

George Bittlingmayer, Wagnon Distinguished Professor of Finance, has followed the contentious establishment of the euro as a common European currency and the complications that have emerged. He was a research fellow at the International Institute of Management at the Science Center Berlin in the mid- and late 1980s, when Europeans first pursued integration of their monetary policies. The euro was finally introduced in 1999, amid both high hopes and predictions of ultimate failure. In 2010, as a number of countries that had adopted the euro experienced high indebtedness and economic problems, Bittlingmayer organized a conference on Sovereign Default: Prevention, Prediction and Consequences. He has also conducted research on the effect of political uncertainty on stock markets and economic activity.

“The real story here is not that Greece may default or that it may be able to avoid paying some of its debt,” Bittlingmayer said. “The significance of the Greek crisis is what it reveals about European financial integration. Was the euro a good idea, and is the euro’s legal and political framework up to the job of addressing problems as they emerge?”

Felix Meschke, assistant professor of finance, has written about debt governance and credit default swaps in the context of U.S. corporations. In 2012, his study on political donations and firm performance was published in the journal Business and Politics. Meschke studied economics at Witten University, Germany.  

To interview Bittlingmayer or Meschke, contact Christine Metz Howard at cmetzhoward@ku.edu or 785-864-8852.

Robert Rohrschneider, the Sir Robert Worcester Distinguished Professor of Political Science, has written about EU skepticism in Europe and how political parties in Europe offer choices to voters, define programs and channel the preferences of citizens into the political process.

Rohrschneider said the referendum in Greece scheduled for this weekend is the next crucial step in the Greek debt crisis. If Greeks vote no, an exit from the EU is likely, as could be panic and possible civil unrest, he said.

"EU skepticism results from the enormous economic crisis in Europe since 2008; public support for integration has dropped dramatically, especially in crisis countries. However, the reasons for the public decline in support vary, depending on the country. In crisis countries —  not only Greece, but also Spain, Portugal, and Ireland — people blame the EU and economic actors (e.g., hedge and bond funds) for the continuing malaise, essentially rejecting the EU-driven austerity policies," Rohrschneider said. "They therefore elect parties like SYRIZA, the current government, which are historically left-extreme and EU-skeptics. In affluent northwestern Europe, people tend to blame waste and profligacy in crisis countries.

"To put it simply, the crisis has brought to the fore the ugly face of national stereotypes and prejudice," he said.

Cristian Dimitriu, a visiting lecturer in the KU Department of Philosophy, specializes in the issue of debts from a philosophical perspective. He can speak to the ethical questions that surround debts.

"The Greek debt crisis brings to mind questions about whether states have the moral obligation to repay debts, why current generations have the moral obligation to repay debts incurred by governments in the past, who should bear the burden of a default, how should the costs and benefits of debts be distributed, and many others." Dimitriu said. "All these are philosophical questions."

To interview Rohrschneider or Dimitriu, contact George Diepenbrock at gdiepenbrock@ku.edu or 785-864-8853.