As an economics professor at Piraeus University near Athens, Theodoros Pelagides sees in his students the frustration at lack of opportunity that in part lies behind this week’s riots. “Everything in Greece operates as a closed shop. There is no highway leading from the university to the labour market,” says the Harvard-trained academic.

Six days of youth unrest in Athens and a dozen other cities following the killing of a 15-year-old by a police officer are laying bare ingrained flaws in Greece’s social and political make-up. Successive governments have avoided tackling social reforms, from education and policing to healthcare and pensions, citing more pressing concerns. Leaders have given priority to infrastructure improvements and other European Union-funded projects intended to promote growth, at the expense of “soft” investments that might not yield results ahead of the next election.