Does Germany owe Greece a debt? A historical perspective on the European debt crisis

Sovereign debt crises have far-reaching consequences and usually go hand in hand with (or can be traced to) banking and – in many cases – currency crises. Therefore, managing and resolving sovereign debt crises pose extraordinary challenges to economic policymakers. Decisive action and reforms have been taken over the past two years to tackle the current European debt crisis. However, given their numerous transmission channels, these measures have been the subject of intense debate among decision-makers, experts, the media and the general public. There are differences in the analysis of the underlying problems, the recommendations of appropriate economic policy responses and in the lessons that should be learned. The 40th Economics Conference of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) from May 10 to 11, 2012, in Vienna brought together renowned national and international experts and practitioners from politics and the economy as well as finance and academia to address these issues from various angles, discussing and identifying possible short- and longer-term solutions with all their advantages and disadvantages.