One expert on Europe's economy blames the current crisis on Greece and 16 other nations using a single currency without a “single and fully well-coordinated policy.”

In a VOA interview, Robert Hockett of Cornell University says Greece was able to borrow substantial sums “because it was part of this shared common currency.”

He says Greece ran up large deficits because its weak tax system “did not collect enough in the form of tax revenue back in the time when things were going well.” The government spent more than it was taking in, and made up the difference by borrowing.

A Greek default on these debts could raise fears of a downward economic spiral in other countries. Hockett says he thinks that's not going to happen because “Europeans have a real knack for fixing things just in the nick of time.”

The Cornell professor says he has a feeling that Greece may cope with the current crisis by spreading the burden of higher taxes and lower levels of services more widely than it has in the past.