Her doctoral dissertation was titled "Transmission of external price disturbances in small, open economies.

She subsequently served as visiting professor at Birkbeck College, London (1986) and at the Athens University of Economics and Business in 1986–1987.

In 1987, she was elected Professor of Economics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, position which she held until her retirement in 2019.

In her capacity as Minister, she initiated major reforms including the abolition of cabotage to support home-porting, the repricing of pharmaceutical products, the simplification of business start-up procedures etc.

As Minister of Labour, she promoted the institution of Special Firm-level Collective Agreements (Law 3899/2010) and the legislative framework for the social economy and entrepreneurship.

In February 2012, she was expelled a second time from PASOK's parliamentary group after voting against Greece's second Financial Assistance Program that abolished the minimum wage and collective agreements and gave the right to Greece's creditors to seize the country's gold reserves if needed.

[6] On 14 March 2012, she formed the new Social Pact party, together with Haris Kastanidis[7] and five other expelled parliament members.

Together with her co-chair former Prime Minister of Denmark Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, she oversaw the commission's workings and the publication of its report entitled “Well-Being for Everyone in a Sustainable Europe”.

Louka Katseli was first married to Stratis Papaefstratiou and then to the late Gerasimos Arsenis,[8] a well-known economist and former Minister.