World Thinkers 2015: Yanis Varoufakis

Syriza’s victory in January’s Greek general election was in no small part due to the efforts of Yanis Varoufakis, now installed as Finance Minister. Varoufakis, who holds a PhD in game theory from the University of Essex, and calls himself an “accidental economist,” first set out an alterntive to German-imposed austerity in 2010. The restructuring of Greece’s debt that Varoufakis has been trying to sell to other eurozone leaders has its origins in those proposals. Whether Varoufakis succeeds in persuading Angela Merkel of its merits remains to be seen. The portents, however, are not auspicious—some European leaders are said to be tiring of Varoufakis’s habit of saying one thing in negotiations in Brussels and another to audiences at home.