El sorprendente caso de la medición de la deuda griega. Crímenes, mentiras y estadísticas

Abstract

Public debt as a GDP percentage is one of the most important macroeconomic measurements of national accounts. In the European Union it is one of the convergence criteria and has significant political implications. In the case of Greek accounts, serious errors in its calculation have been demonstrated, which in 2009 led to the beginning of the Greek crisis. This paper will analyze the difficulties involved in measuring public debt, and the ability of Eurostat to monitor Greek data during more than a decade. By analyzing the Greek case and documents of the European Union, the very possibility of measuring a country?s public debt and the difficulties involved in such a complex task are examined; namely, the ability to harmonize the measurements of various states that use different methodologies, and of Eurostat to act as supervisor of the data provided by the member states. The paper concludes that data such as public debt cannot be measured or calculated, only "estimated," with a large margin of error and limited options for its oversight by supranational organizations.