Sri Lankan austerity combined fiscal and monetary contraction hitting the poor hardest

Evidence

Fiscal austerity took the form of cuts to social spending; the elimination of subsidies on essential goods such as gasoline and electricity; regressive taxation, including an increase in taxes on cigarettes, liquor, and telecommunications; and the extension of taxes to low-income households who had been exempt. Monetary austerity, in the form of raising interest rates, exacerbated an already dire situation of unemployment and job insecurity and led to a recession. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 347

Categorization

• XREF: The twin fiscal/monetary structure mirrors Mattei’s Italy and Chile cases; useful for the cross-case reconstruction the reader wants. — connects to: Austerity’s costs fall harder on the poor, making it politically unsustainable — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 42; Sri Lankan austerity combined regressive taxes with rate hikes to produce recession — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 347