British austerity predated its codification at the 1920 Brussels and Genoa conferences

Evidence

Even before the principles of austerity were codifi ed in Brussels and Genoa beginning in 1920, its component policies were already spreading. Th is was particularly the case in Britain, which at the time was the most advanced capitalist country in Europe. Faced with rising labor mobilization and rising prices, the country adopted two public axioms— produce more, consume less— that served to smother any rays of hope for a reconstructionist program, to say nothing of a noncapitalist future. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 823

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to modern austerity discourse where ‘belt-tightening’ axioms similarly frame class sacrifice as neutral economic necessity. — connects to: Austerity was codified as economic policy at the 1920 Brussels conference. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 7; Crowding-out reasoning was already a British Treasury tool by 1920 — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 787; Britain pioneered austerity in 1920 and Mussolini’s Italy followed in 1922 — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 820 (+4 more)
• SEED: Angle: tracing the ‘produce more, consume less’ framing backward from today’s austerity programs to its 1919 British origins.

Broader Connections

• Austerity’s core principles predate the twentieth century by a century of classical economics #corroborates (0.82) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 718