Germany as a role model for structural adjustment of peripheral Eurozone economies : the Portuguese case

This paper aims at analyzing the structural changes that occurred in the Portuguese economy after the 2010/2013 sovereign debt crisis, compared with what occurred in Germany and using the current debate surrounding the new reform of the Eurozone as a backdrop. We thus intend to find out whether a peripheral southern economy like Portugal and the Eurozone’s nuclear economy (Germany) have become closer and, if so, what that means in terms of the sustainability of the Eurozone as a set of different economies sharing the same currency. The study will be framed in the varieties of capitalism theory and in the theory of growth regimes.