Austerity emerged only once states became large enough budgetary entities to cut

Evidence

In chapter 4, we investigate the prehistory of austerity, first as an absence in early liberal economic thought, and then as a definite policy in early to mid-twentieth-century economic theory. Austerity was not a policy consistently argued for from the seventeenth century onward, since the conditions of its realization—big states that spend lots of cash that can be cut—do not arise until the twentieth century. Rather, austerity emerges over time as a derivative consequence of other shared beliefs—a sensibility—concerning the nature and role of the state in economic life that sit at the core of liberal economic thought. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 268

Categorization

• XREF: This historical-contingency claim about austerity’s preconditions will pair well with Mattei’s account of austerity as a mid-20th-century invention rather than a timeless doctrine. — connects to: Austere retrenchment was impossible until states grew large and democratic — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 481; Austerity is voluntary deflation achieved by cutting state budgets to restore competitiveness — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 25; Austerity debates only emerge once states grow large enough to cut. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 69 (+3 more)
• DEFINE: Defines austerity’s emergence as derivative of a broader liberal ‘sensibility’ about the state, not as a standalone doctrine.

Broader Connections

• Austerity was historically contingent, not inevitable #expands (0.82) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 621