We have heard a lot this past year about money and the Eurocrisis and Greece and Germany and, and, and.. .  But do many of us really understand what’s going on there?  What it’s all about?   Luckily, we can read the concise and clearly-written Greek Crisis in Perspective: Origins, effects and ways-out  fresh from the New Palgrave’s Dictionary of Economics.  Not surprisingly, this thing has been brewing since 1980, when Greece joined the European Union.  Take a look at the charts and graphs in this article.  Number 7 is particularly confusing.  Hopefully someone over in Greece will read the section on “ways out” and climb out of this situation.

On a more exciting note, the most popular article in New Palgrave’s is the Economic Impact of the Olympic Games.  I often wonder why countries compete to host the games – what with all the logistical and security headaches and the enormous costs.  You know what else I wonder about?  What was Old Palgrave’s like?