Summary
Is it true that Greece failed to collect 89% of taxes in 2010? Tim Harford and the More or Less team look at the numbers behind the tax system and the other statistics used to tell the story of the Greek crisis. Which ones are home truths and which ones are myths.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to more or less. |
| 0:02.2 | Every week we produce a podcast, whether we're on air or not. |
| 0:06.1 | So if you never want to miss a programme, subscribe. |
| 0:09.2 | This week, Tim Harford presents a Greek myth special. |
| 0:13.6 | Hello and welcome to this special edition of more or less |
| 0:17.2 | in which we'll try to sort statistical truth from myth in Greece |
| 0:21.8 | using new stories and gems from our archive. Can it be true that the Greek |
| 0:26.6 | government failed to collect almost 90% of all taxed due in 2010? Or that the Greeks work harder than anyone else in Europe. |
| 0:35.2 | We'll answer those questions amongst others and bring you something you rarely hear |
| 0:40.1 | in public when the state of the Eurozone is being discussed. |
| 0:44.0 | The story is so ridiculous. |
| 0:47.4 | The sound of a German laughing. |
| 0:49.7 | But first let me take you back. Very far back because here on more or less we're |
| 0:59.6 | always looking for the perfect analogy to help clarify complicated things and the Greek economic crisis is pretty complicated. |
| 1:08.0 | The good news is we think we've come up with exactly the right way to describe the whole sorry business as Homer's Odyssey. |
| 1:17.4 | And the even better news is that Charlotte McDonald is here to help. Yes, so where shall we start? |
| 1:28.8 | Well, let's start with a Trojan horse. |
| 1:30.8 | Sure. |
| 1:31.8 | Yep, so the original horse, great big hollow wooden statue and inside the Trojan horse there's this Greek |
| 1:38.0 | attack squad and they are smuggled into the city of Troy. |
| 1:41.7 | What has that got to do with the debt crisis? |
| 1:44.0 | Okay bear with me. |
... |
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