Comparisons of Business Cycles in Greece and the EC: Idiosyncracies and Regularities

The paper compares the cyclical behaviour of the Greek economy to that of the other EC economies, using quarterly and annual data since 1960 and the Real Business Cycle model as a theoretical framework. The evidence suggests that there are remarkable similarities in these features despite significant differences in the patterns of fiscal and monetary policies and the terms of trade. We take this evidence to suggest that the propagation mechanism for business cycles in Greece is fairly similar to that in the other EC countries. Hence, the integration of the Greek economy within the EC under a set of uniform institutions and policies should not be a problem as far as the business cycle is concerned.