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This article studies the Greek crisis since 2009 with a synthesized Marxian framework by embedding the Greek capital accumulation process into the capitalist core-periphery structure in the European Union, which deteriorated the competitiveness of Greece and adversely impacted its capital accumulation, leading to a relatively low profit rate in the neoliberal era. Institutions of the European Union helped Greece turn to debt-driven accumulation to sustain growth, especially the external debt of government, but the weak productive accumulation because of relatively low profit rate made the accumulation of debt unsustainable in the long run. When doubt was cast on Greece's capacity to repay its debts, the economy lost external sources of funding, leading to a halt in debt expansion and the burst of the sovereign debt crisis. JEL Classification : E11, F02, O10 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this monograph is to analyze the limits to the exercise of monetary sovereignty in peripheral countries. The existence of a hierarchy of currencies in the international monetary system and its possible consequences for the management of exchange rate, monetary and fiscal policies in peripheral countries is discussed. It is argued that the peripheral condition is not immutable. And that when a country is recognized as being in an unfavorable position in the hierarchy of currencies, at least two paths may be adopted: accept that it is up to this country to continue presenting low international relevance, high poverty rates and a production structure focused on primary-export activities with low added value; or investigate what measures need to be adopted for the country to assume greater international relevance, offer better living conditions for its population and develop a more diversified and technologically sophisticated production structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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