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The Cypriot Economic Collapse

其他書名	More Than a Conventional South European Failure
出版	SSRN, 2013
URL	http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=2WTczwEACAAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api

註釋In June 2012 Cyprus became the fifth Eurozone member to request an EU bailout, after more than a year of being shut out of international debt markets. Given the countryâĨœs geographical location, Cyprus has merely been considered by some as one more piece of the sovereign debt crisis mosaic covering the European Southern periphery; an economy operating within the conventional framework of South European (SE) capitalism. This paper rejects such a simplistic hypothesis and argues that CyprusâĨœs dire financial situation cannot be adequately explained by its geographical proximity with other troubled European states and by its increasing, yet still below EU average, national debt. Such an approach, for instance, does not provide for the countryâĨœs disproportionate banking sector, around eight times the GDP of the country. With reference made to comparative political economy and Varieties of Capitalism literature, the aim is to underline the limitations of existing literature in helping one to better assess and understand the complete picture behinds CyprusâĨœs economic collapse. Specifically, the paper focuses on those models of capitalism which apply to South European countries and are offered as an alternative to the binary division of capitalist economies into liberal and coordinated market economies. It attempts to identify whether Cyprus may fit the taxonomy and be placed under the alternative SE model of capitalism. In doing so, the paper assesses that despite the numerous commonalities with other SE countries, certain ambiguities of the Cypriot model render the theoretical SE variety of capitalism inadequate in providing a complete picture of CyprusâĨœs political economy and, consequently, a thorough explanation of its current situation. Furthermore, it suggests that no provision has been made for certain important factors in comprising the various capitalist models. Specifically, the paper highlights the importance of historical specificities (i.e. British colonial heritage, chronic ties with Greece).