Interwar experts sold austerity as objective science concealing true economic facts from the people

Evidence

How could austerity proceed in such a turbulent time? Here again, experts induced consensus through the persuasive powers of an “objective” economic science. Experts justifi ed the necessity of fi scal austerity by suggesting that social reforms were only “concealing from the people the true economic situation” (Resolution V on Public Finance, Brussels 1920, vol. 1, 14). Once again, we notice the “neutral” standpoint taken by these experts whose purported role was to “inform” the people— incapable of understanding on their own— of the “true” road to economic redemption. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 744

Categorization

• XREF: The rhetorical move — experts claiming neutrality while imposing class policy — connects to today’s austerity discourse and technocratic depoliticization critiqued in modern political economy. — connects to: Austerity has twin histories of intellectual pedigree and empirical record; International economists forged austerity as a deliberate antiworker project — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 194; Central bank independence is justified by expert pseudoscience. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 375 (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Economics legitimizes austerity claims by pretending to value-free objectivity. #corroborates (0.92)
• Austerity masquerades as apolitical science while bending workers to capital’s will #corroborates (0.90)
• Austerity needed economic theory to justify unpopular cutbacks after World War I #expands (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 874
• Austerity operates as speculation that converts fiction into fact #complicates (0.72) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 400