Debt-aversion ideology survives despite being spectacularly disproven by history

Evidence

Hume predicted the end of Great Britain due to excessive debt issuance just at the moment that Great Britain was about to dominate the world for a century. It’s hard to be that wrong; and yet the arguments against debt, in essentially the same form, continue to be used today, three hundred years later. Facts, it seems, seldom triumph over a good liberal ideology, and when it comes to a good liberal ideology, you can’t beat Adam Smith. — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 290

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to Mattei’s critique of austerity as ideology detached from evidence; also echoes the historiography that ideologies outlive their empirical refutations. — connects to: REBLL recoveries disprove expansionary austerity and left states deeper in debt — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 612; Austerity persists as an ideology that resists empirical refutation — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 613; Austerity was historically contingent, not inevitable — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 621 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Austerity persists as an ideology that resists empirical refutation #corroborates (0.92) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 613
• Austerity was historically contingent, not inevitable #corroborates (0.85) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 621