Pro-austerity economists refused to analyze the financial-crisis origins of state debt

Evidence

Alesina and Ardanga begin by noting that the ballooning of debts and deficits across the OECD is due in large part to the “bailout[s] of various types in the financial sector.” However, about this they “have nothing to say.” What they do have to say is that regardless of how we got into this mess, the only way out is through cutting the state. As before, they argue that “spending cuts are more effective than tax increases in stabilizing the debt and avoiding downturns.” — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 470

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader austerity literature condemning the bailout-then-austerity sequence — debt was socialized during rescues, then working people were made to pay via cuts. — connects to: The Eurozone crisis was wrongly blamed on sovereign fiscal profligacy — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 152; States were complicit but did not cause the European debt crisis — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 199; Austerity framed economic crisis as caused by governments and workers, not capital — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 783 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Austerity framed economic crisis as caused by governments and workers, not capital #corroborates (0.82) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 783
• Neoliberalism’s crisis strategy redirected blame from banks onto state debt #expands (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 475