“Accidental economist” and rookie Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was born March 24, 1961. He has Greek-Australian nationality and is known as the author of “The Global Minotaur”.  Before becoming Greece’s FinMin, he lectured on economic theory at the University of Athens and served as a private consultant for the Valve Corp. on his main interest: gaming theory.

Some describe him as “Dr. Doom” for his stance on the country’s deep economic troubles, being one of the first to warn of the risk that Greece could default due to its swelling debts. Since the beginning of the crisis he had argued that Greece should default while staying as a member of the euro area. Placing him in the role of the Finance Minister who spearheads the bailout renegotiation talks with Greece’s international creditors has already produced the first sparks.

The Varoufakis vacation home’s swimming pool on the isle of Aegina, from a post on social media uploaded by his wife

“My break from Britain occurred in 1987 on the night of Mrs. (Margaret) Thatcher’s third election victory. It was too much to bear,” writes the shaven-headed, athletic 53-year-old on the same English-speaking blog, where he announced his appointment as Greece’s FinMin even before the new government did.

Britain’s supposed loss was Australia’s gain and Varoufakis moved to the University of Sydney and lived in the land Down Under from 1988 (Australia’s bicentenary) to 2000 (Sydney Olympics). He left after gaining Australian citizenship and having a daughter from a relationship in Australia.

Varoufakis arriving at Maximos Mansion government house on his motorcycle. He is known to travel without security and is described as very friendly and approachable.

From “accidental economist” he became an “accidental video game programmer”. Here is how it happened, according to his own blog in June 2012:

It was late at night in October of last year when the strange email arrived. In fact, I only read it by accident and did not delete it by some miracle of fate.

Before the Euro Crisis erupted in 2009, I was just another economics professor, minding my own little theoretical endeavours, writing obscure papers and esoteric books that only a few hundred nutcases around the world (like myself) would ever read, terribly satisfied in my very own academic cocoon. Back then, I would never even imagine not answering an incoming email.

And then, all of a sudden, as if by the wave of some vengeful wizard’s wand, the tranquility was shattered and I found myself in the midst of an acrimonious Europe-wide debate watched over by millions. (If interested, you may take a look at the blog I have dedicated to these debates here.) It is what, I suppose, happens every seventy years or so when a major economic collapse turns us economists from creatures to be avoided at all cost (especially on TV or around the dinner table) into minor celebrities whose words are eagerly followed by a despairing public. Why me? For two reasons I think. First, because I am Greek and Greece was the canary in the mine (whose death warned the rest of Europe of the impending ‘gas explosion’). Secondly because I am a rather unconventional Greek whose line of argument on the BBC, CNN etc. raised eyebrows – for reasons I shall not bother you with here. Anyhow, my life was transformed overnight.

A side effect of this ‘transformation’ was that my inbox became impenetrable to the human eye, receiving as I did thousands of unsolicited non-spam messages from people with a wide range of fixations – from sharing their world view, to seeking advice on what to do with their investment in some pig farm in the north of Greece, to offering me a share in some far-fetched business venture.

When I read the opening line of the email in question, my finger almost pushed the delete button:

“I’m the president of a videogame company (www.valvesoftware.com).”

I thought to myself: Oh, not another “business proposal” from a crackpot… However, something in my head stopped my finger from pressing DEL while my eyes pondered the next line:

“We are running into a bunch of problems as we scale up our virtual economies, and as we link economies together. Would you be interested in consulting with us?”

I was intrigued. The finger retreated from the keyboard’s right hand side and I read on:

“I have been following your blog for a while… Here at my company we were discussing an issue of linking economies in two virtual environments (creating a shared currency), and wrestling with some of the thornier problems of balance of payments, when it occurred to me “this is Germany and Greece”, a thought that wouldn’t have occurred to me without having followed your blog. Rather than continuing to run an emulator of you in my head, I thought I’d check to see if we couldn’t get the real you interested in what we are doing.”

In a youthful photo he looks like Freddie Mercury from Queen

As a gamer at Valve, he often cited nobel-prize winner Friedrich Hayek and Scottish philosopher/economist Adam Smith. It’s his views that grabbed the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) party’s attention, inviting Varoufakis to work with them even though he wasn’t even a member of their party.

Artist Danae Stratou, his wife and the love of his life.

Danae Stratou is an installation artist, born in Athens in 1964. She is related to the Stratous family that founded the Peraiki Patraiki textile industry in the Peloponnese. In 2005-2006 the two travelled extensively along seven dividing lines around the world (Palestine, Ethiopia-Eritrea, Kosovo, Belfast, Cyprus, Kashmir and the US-Mexico border) when STratou created an installation, CUT; 7 dividing lines, and Varoufakis wrote a political-economic account of these divisions, titled “The Globalizing Wall”. In 2010, the couple founded the project, “Vital Space”.

Do you want to know more about Varoufakis? 

* For Varoufakis blog – CLICK HERE

* To celebrate Yanis Varoufakis’ election to Greek parliament as a Syriza MP, and his new role as a Finance Minister threatening to crack the austerity consensus in Europe, Zed Books are offering a free e-book containing extracts from “The Global Minotaur”, his provocative account of the causes of the financial crisis (and his plan for getting out of it). The e-book, “After The Minotaur: Greece and the Future of the Global Economy” will go on general release for all platforms on Thursday 29th January. CLICK HERE

* For V for Varoufakis on Facebook, CLICK HERE

* For Varoufakis on the Valve blog, CLICK HERE