Austerity’s success cases are few and possibly wrong while its failures are demonstrable

Evidence

Crucially, those conditions have practically nothing to do with expectation mechanisms or cutting the welfare state. Deploying austerity in less than those ideal conditions has helped propel Spain and Greece to the brink of economic and political collapse and impoverished millions of people throughout the rest of Southern Europe. This is not “blown out of proportion rhetoric.” It is a fact. Austerity’s continuing application may well result in the eventual breakup of the Eurozone and have political repercussions that the weak institutions of the EU are unlikely to withstand. The cases cited as its successes, the justification for following this policy are, as we shall see, like positive cases of structural adjustment: few, far between, and quite possibly wrong. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 479

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the structural adjustment literature and Mattei’s argument about austerity’s empirical failures. — connects to: Expansionary austerity theory relies on rational consumer expectations and shrinks to ever fewer cases. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 559; The Australian case for expansionary austerity rests on fabricated facts. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 568; The Baltic austerity ‘success stories’ grew from unstable credit-bubble economies — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 603 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Showing austerity failed does not require proving Keynesian alternatives right #expands (0.90) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 996