Austerity has failed systematically whenever governments face gold-standard-style constraints

Evidence

Once gold was restored, the game changed and the application of any and all austerity policies simply made things worse—in some cases, as we shall see, with deadly results. The parallel to the Eurozone as a gold standard without gold (you can’t devalue, inflate, or default there either) is both obvious and vitally important. That is, if none of these countries managed to make austerity work when they were on the classical gold standard and were far more authoritarian, why would we expect anything different to occur today in the Eurozone—or even America—when they are far more democratic? — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 504

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘gold standard without gold’ framing of the Eurozone directly parallels Mattei’s analysis of austerity-as-constituent-power; also echoes the interwar gold-standard literature Blyth draws on throughout. — connects to: Leaving the gold standard and sharing adjustment costs ended Swedish austerity. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 524; Austerity’s success cases are few and possibly wrong while its failures are demonstrable — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 479; The gold standard naturalized austerity by removing it from political dispute — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1302 (+10 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: the historical record of austerity under authoritarian vs democratic regimes — does the democracy variable actually explain the failure differential?
• ADDENDUM: Directly supports Mattei and the austerity-literature thread the reader is building for this foundational reading project.

Broader Connections

• Austerity’s success cases are few and possibly wrong while its failures are demonstrable #corroborates (0.85) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 479
• Austerity only rarely works and its success conditions do not apply today #corroborates (0.80) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 274
• The gold standard naturalized austerity by removing it from political dispute #expands (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1302
• Austerity theory only holds in a special case unlike actual economies #corroborates (0.75) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 480