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The Economics of Austerity

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  • Konzelmann, S.

Abstract

The 2007/8 financial crisis has reignited the debate about austerity economics and revealed that it is a highly contested yet poorly understood idea. This article locates the debate in its historical context, tracing it from the early 18th and 19th century Classical debates, which focused mainly on the means by which fiscal deficits should be financed. As capitalism evolved, so did ideas and theories about the economics of austerity. Following World War One, concerns about high levels of government debt produced the 1920s 'Treasury view' - that government deficits are economically damaging and austerity is required to rein them in. During the 1930s Great Depression, when unemployment was the main concern, this perspective was challenged by the 'Keynesian view' - that government deficits could be economically beneficial during the slump, when the private sector was unable to generate sufficient effective demand to pull the economy out of depression. From this perspective, austerity was the policy prescription for the top of the business cycle, to prevent the economy from over-heating and igniting inflation. The 'stagflationary' crises of the 1970s challenged this view; and during the decades preceding the 2007/8 crisis, austerity was considered to be a policy for the bottom of the business cycle, when the excesses of a bubble-inflated boom had been revealed by its collapse. In the aftermath of the 2007/8 financial crisis, however, austerity no longer has the economic objective of macroeconomic stabilization. Instead, it has become the objective itself - demanded by actors in the international financial markets as evidence that governments are serious about managing their deficits and paying back their debts, thereby protecting the financial interests of investors in sovereign debt. However, if austerity undermines economic growth - as it is doing at present - markets are unlikely to remain loyal to those countries suffering the effect. It is therefore important that policy-makers and political leaders learn the lessons of the 2007/8 financial crisis with regard to the economics of austerity - before it is too late.

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  • Konzelmann, S., 2012. "The Economics of Austerity," Working Papers wp434, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp434
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    File URL: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/cbrwp434/
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    Cited by:

    1. Juergen Amann & Paul Middleditch, 2017. "Growth in a time of austerity: evidence from the UK," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(4), pages 349-375, September.
    2. Attahir Babaji Abubakar, 2020. "Does fiscal tightening (loosening) reduce public debt?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(4), pages 528-539, December.
    3. Abdul‐Rahim Mohammed, 2024. "The hidden costs of austerity for social programmes in the Global South: Qualitative insights from two complementary services in Ghana's Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Programme," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(4), pages 1965-1981, May.
    4. Vassilis Monastiriotis, 2014. "(When) Does Austerity Work? On the Conditional Link between Fiscal Austerity and Debt Sustainability," Cyprus Economic Policy Review, University of Cyprus, Economics Research Centre, vol. 8(1), pages 71-92, June.
    5. Stephen McBride, 2016. "Constitutionalizing Austerity: Taking the Public out of Public Policy," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 7(1), pages 5-14, February.
    6. João Veríssimo LISBOA & Mário Gomes AUGUSTO & Juan PIÑEIRO-CHOUSA, 2015. "A Combined Approach To Access Short Term Changes In Economic Activity Of Portugal And Spain," Revista Galega de Economía, University of Santiago de Compostela. Faculty of Economics and Business., vol. 24(2), pages 99-110.
    7. Marinko Škare & Romina Prziklas Druzeta, 2015. "Fiscal Austerity Versus Growth in Croatia," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 9(1), March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Austerity; Macroeconomic Policy; Financial Crises; Business Cycles;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative

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