Política de austeridade em Portugal

Portugal and the euro -The uncertainty society

To escape from its troubles, Portugal will have to abandon many of the things that made them bearable

PORTUGAL seldom matters much. It is a source of mild national irritation that the country is often sliced off the map in continental weather forecasts. Unfortunately, Portugal’s present moment in the spotlight has come about for all the wrong reasons. Yields on ten-year sovereign debt touched 17% earlier this year, fixing Portugal as the next shoe to drop in the euro crisis...
But labour and capital were diverted into activities, such as law, construction, health and government, that are sheltered from foreign competition. The number of lawyers increased by 48% between 2000 and 2010. The public sector grew fast. “All these people went to study film-making and sociology and then got jobs with the government,” says Pedro Santa Clara of Lisbon’s Nova University. Productivity stagnated...
Living standards were sustained by public and private borrowing, helped by money from the European Union...
Having failed to reform in good times, Portugal must now remodel itself without the lubricant of spare cash for losers...
Mais