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Abstract: Changing a country's currency involves a redenomination risk arising due to assets and liabilities that are impossible to redenominate because of contracts governed by foreign law. Depreciation or appreciation of the new currency could, therefore, result in losses or gains, thus creating a risk for economic agents. The risk can be estimated by splitting the economy into public, private, banking and central banking sectors, and summing up exposed aggregate assets and liabilities. This method is applied to Greece showing that exiting the EMU would certainly entail forbidding redenomination losses for the Greek public sector, leading to default. Surprisingly, however, the impact on the private and the banking sectors would actually be positive (gain). The impact on the Bank of Greece would be ambiguous depending primarily on the legal status of TARGET2 liabilities. It is notable that even the Bank of Greece possesses a significant cushion in the form of bonds under foreign law. In all, the redenomination risk for the Greek economy is modest, with the exception of the public sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines how the integration of developing counties into the eurozone geopolitical and economic zone has been impacted following the global economic recession of 2008-2009. The author discusses the relationship between European Union (EU) member states such as Germany and peripheral eurozone countries such as Greece, noting the effect European monetary unions and the creation of the European Central Bank have had on financial integration and interdependence in the region. The role of national competitiveness within the EU and the impact of the U.S. mortgage bubble crisis on the German economy are also addressed.

The article presents the speeches of college faculty members Costas Lapavitsas, Kevin Featherstone, Peter Bratsis, Stathis Kouvelakis, and Etienne Balibar given during a debate at the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London in England on May 5, 2010 in which the contributing factors to Greece's economic crises such as corruption and clientelism are mentioned as well as the solidarity of national economies in the Eurozone.