Nicholas Theocarakis

Nicholas Theocarakis
Νίκος Θεοχαράκης
Secretary General of Fiscal Policy
In office 4 March 2015 – 16 October 2015
Appointed by	Yanis Varoufakis
Prime Minister	Alexis Tsipras
Minister	Euclid Tsakalotos
Preceded by	Emmanuel Mamatzakis
Succeeded by	Fragkiskos Koutentakis
Personal details
Born	1956 Athens, Greece
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	Athens University, Cambridge University
Academic career
Information at IDEAS / RePEc

Nicholas Theocarakis, also transcribed as Nikos Theocharakis (Greek: Νίκος Θεοχαράκης, born 1956), is a Greek economist and associate professor of economics at Athens University. He is the author of several books and contributions on economic theory and history of economic thought.

In March 2015, he was appointed General Secretary of Fiscal Policy leading the technical negotiations of the Greek Ministry of Finance with the Eurogroup. At the end of April, PM Alexis Tsipras made changes in the negotiation team.^[1]

Early life and education

Born 1956, Theocharakis visited the Varvakeio model high school in Athens, receiving his diploma in 1974. He studied Economics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and at the Churchill College of Cambridge University, where he graduated in 1979. At Cambridge University he would later also complete his doctoral thesis in economics.^[2]

Career

Since 1988 Theocharakis has been teaching political economy and History of economic thought.^[2] Previously an assistant professor, in 2013 he was promoted to the status of an associated professor at the Department of Economics of Athens University. He has served twice as the director of the Political Economy division.^[3] Before his appointment as Secretary General he has served as director of UADPhilEcon, the doctoral program in economics of the University of Athens and as the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences representative to the University of Athens Research Committee.^[2]

Previously Theocarakis had also worked in the private sector and served as a board member at the Emporiki Bank, Egnatia Bank and Ethniki Asfalistiki.^[4] Before his appointment as assistant professor at the Department of Economics of the University of Athens he worked as Deputy Managing Director of Nic. J. Theocarakis S.A.

An academic colleague, regular co-author and confidant of Greek ex-Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis,^[5] Theocharakis on 4 March 2015 was appointed the ministry's new Secretary General for Fiscal Policy. Until the end of April 2015 he was in charge of the negotiations in the Brussels Group and the Ministry of Finance representative in the Eurogroup Working Group.^[6] He resigned from the position of Secretary General for Fiscal Policy in October 2015. From late October 2015 he is the Scientific Director and Chairman of KEPE (Centre of Planning and Economic Research)^[7]

Selected publications

English monograph

• Modern Political Economics: Making sense of the post-2008 world. (with Yanis Varoufakis and Joseph Halevi). London and New York: Routledge. 2011. ISBN 978-0-415-42888-0.

English contributions

• "Disparaging liberal economics in nineteenth-century Greece: The case of “The economist's duck” (with Michalis M. Psalidopoulos)". The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought. 15 October 2015. doi:10.1080/09672567.2015.1088879.
• "The dissemination of economic thought in South-Eastern Europe in the nineteenth century" (with Michalis M. Psalidopoulos). In: Heinz-Dieter Kurz et al.: The Dissemination of Economic Ideas. Edward Elgar, 2011, ISBN 978-0-85793-557-1. pp. 161–191.
• "The reception of Adam Smith in Greece: a most peculiar metakenosis". Adam Smith Review 7. 13 June 2011. pp. 148–165. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1864189.
• "Metamorphoses: The Concept of Labour in the History of Political Economy". Economic and Labour Relations Review 9 (2). 2010. pp. 7–38. doi:10.1177/103530461002000202.
• "Antipeponthos and reciprocity: the concept of equivalent exchange from Aristotle to Turgot". International Review of Economics 55 (1). April 2008. pp. 29–44.
• "Nicomachean Ethics Political Economy: The Trajectory of the Problem of Value". History of Economic Ideas 14 (1). 2006. pp. 9–54.

Greek monographs

• Η νεοκλασική θεωρία της εργασίας [The neoclassical theory of labor]. Athens: Typothito. 2005. ISBN 978-960-402-154-3.
• Μικροοικονομικά υποδείγματα μερικής και γενικής [Microeconomic Models of Partial and General Equilibrium]. (with Yanis Varoufakis). Athens: Typothito. 2005. ISBN 978-960-402-240-3.

References

1. Greece Moves to Sideline Varoufakis After Reform Talks Fiasco
2. Ακαδημαϊκό Βιογραφικό Σημείωμα [Academic CV] (in Greek). National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
3. "Teaching and Research Staff per Division". National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
4. Οι νέοι Γενικοί Γραμματείς του υπουργείου Οικονομικών [The Ministry of Economy's new General Secretaries] (in Greek). 5 March 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
5. "Public Debt: How the classical economists looked upon it (wonkish) – Guest article by Nicholas Theocarakis". 28 November 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
6. Tsirou, Thanos (4 March 2015). O καθηγητής Ν. Θεοχαράκης ο νέος εκπρόσωπος στο EWG [Professor N. Theocarakis new representative in the Euro Working Group] (in Greek). Times of Change. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
7. http://www.kathimerini.gr/836666/article/epikairothta/ellada/neos-episthmonikos-diey8ynths-toy-kepe-o-nik-8eoxarakhs

External links

• Publications at ResearchGate