Austerity theory only holds in a special case unlike actual economies

Evidence

Austerity works in the same way that Keynes maintained classical economics works, as a “limiting point of the possible positions of equilibrium.” That is, one special case out of billions of possible cases. He continued, “The characteristics of the special case assumed … happen not to be those of the economic society in which we actually live, with the result that its teaching is misleading and disastrous if we attempt to apply it to the facts of experience.” Once again, what we learned in the 1930s has been forgotten. That forgetting is perhaps the strongest reason why austerity remains such a dangerous idea. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 480

Categorization

• XREF: Keynesian equilibrium critique connects to Mattei’s framing of austerity as doctrine divorced from reality. — connects to: Expansionary austerity cases depend on conditions absent in the Eurozone — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 483; Expansionary austerity theory relies on rational consumer expectations and shrinks to ever fewer cases. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 559; A balance-sheet recession better explains flat consumption than expectations-based austerity theory. — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 574 (+13 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies what ‘limiting point of equilibrium’ means as a rhetorical lever against austerity’s universal applicability.

Broader Connections

• Austerity rests on a fallacy of composition, not a confidence problem #corroborates (0.78) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 45