Austerity’s core principles predate the twentieth century by a century of classical economics

Evidence

Hard work and economy— as in budget cuts and individual abstinence— were the guiding principles that formed the essence of austerity as a response to crisis. In themselves these were not much of a novelty; they had been an integral part of the conceptual toolbox of the renowned classical economists Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Th omas Robert Malthus for at least a century. What was new in the early twentieth century was that the general public had seen the fault in such narratives. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 718

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines austerity’s essence as hard work plus budget cuts plus individual abstinence, and fixes its classical-economics lineage.
• XREF: Connects to the modern understanding that austerity rhetoric always dresses up old class discipline as new necessity - relevant to any current neoliberalism reading. — connects to: Austerity was historically contingent, not inevitable — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 621; Austerity has twin histories of intellectual pedigree and empirical record; Contemporary austerity orthodoxy is a recycled 1930s doctrine with no success record — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 327 (+9 more)