Liberal economists supported fascist austerity despite opposing dictatorship

Evidence

The Italian liberal economist and statesman Luigi Einaudi was never a Fascist and never held any position in a Fascist government; he was opposed to the political authoritarianism of Mussolini’s regime. But he was supportive of the austerity policies that the regime imposed, and he was willing to make his peace with authoritarianism for the sake of what he believed to be sound economic policy. — Gary Mongiovi, Austerity Is an Antidemocratic Strategy…, 107

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes arguments about how mainstream centrist economists accommodated Pinochet’s Chile. — connects to: Mainstream economists applauded Mussolini’s austerity as sound fiscal discipline. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 14; Liberal economist Einaudi celebrated fascism as restoring investor confidence — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 201; Nobel-winning Chicago economists actively endorsed Pinochet’s dictatorship — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 329 (+12 more)

Related

• Liberal economists endorsed Mussolini to enforce austerity on Italy’s workers (similarity 0.88)
• Liberal economist Einaudi celebrated fascism as restoring investor confidence (similarity 0.87)
• Mainstream economists applauded Mussolini’s austerity as sound fiscal discipline. (similarity 0.87)
• Mussolini’s austerity policies won applause from international experts (similarity 0.85)
• Fascist and liberal economists both endorsed rule by apolitical experts (similarity 0.85)
• Liberal austerity and fascist repression converged in a shared coercive project (similarity 0.83)
• Fascist Italy gave economists the rare chance to enforce their models on society (similarity 0.83)
• Mussolini secured elite backing by imposing austerity policies (similarity 0.81)
• Austerity served as proof of creditworthiness to international finance for the Fascist regime (similarity 0.80)
• Fascist Italy let pure-economics theorists apply austerity free of democratic constraint (similarity 0.80)
• Economists served fascism by reestablishing the economics-politics divide (similarity 0.79)
• Fascist austerity dismantled postwar gains and re-separated economics from politics (similarity 0.79)
• The Economist initially viewed Mussolini’s austerity program with sympathy as sane finance (similarity 0.79)
• Liberal financial powers welcomed fascism as a tool for subjugating labor (similarity 0.79)
• Modern austerity arguments trace directly to Einaudi’s Bocconi school of ordoliberal economics (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Economists served fascism by reestablishing the economics-politics divide #expands (0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 193