Would leaving euro be more of a catastrophe for Greece than staying?

Leaving the single currency will have all sorts of economic and political costs for Athens, but Iceland's experience after the banking crisis could prove illuminating

Yanis Varoufakis rues the day when Greece joined the euro. The Greek finance minister says his country would be better off if it was still using the drachma. Deep down, he says, all 18 countries using the single currency wish that the idea had been strangled at birth but understand that once you are in you don't get out without a catastrophe.

All of that is true, and explains why Greece is involved in a game of chicken with all the other players in this drama: the International Monetary Fund, the European commission, the European Central Bank and the German government. Varoufakis wants more financial help but not if it means sending the Greek economy into a "death spiral". Greece's creditors will not stump up any more cash until Athens sticks to bailout conditions that Varoufakis says would do just that.

Related: Modern ruins: the ghost factories of Greece - in pictures