Case study Greece

The post war reconstruction efforts of the Marshall Plan (formally the European Recovery Program) and new economic cooperation in Western Europe provided no immediate benefit to Greece, which underwent a bloody civil war from 1946 until 1949. A new round of destruction of wealth, inflation, and economic instability lasted until the early 1950s. Significant amounts of United States aid went to Greece during this period under the Truman Doctrine and later under the Marshall Plan, establishing a long pattern of dependency on Western benefactors. Total United States aid to Greece from 1947 to 1977 amounted to US$5 billion. In the early post war years, most of the aid was in the form of grants for outright military assistance or given in connection with military requirements and war-related economic needs.
The Civil War ended in 1949, but economic stabilization was achieved only in 1953. The starting point of post war recovery was a package of domestic economic measures passed in 1953, which included 50 percent currency devaluation, laws for the protection of foreign investment, and banking regulations to control inflation and speculation. Extensive public investments in infrastructure (roads, seaports, airports, and electric and telecommunications networks) were undertaken under the leadership of Konstantinos Karamanlis, first as minister of public works (1952-55) then in his first term as prime minister (1955-63). The 1953 program began twenty years in which Greece would achieve high growth rates, effective industrialization, export expansion, urban growth, and significant--although uneven--prosperity for its population. …