Emmott, Bill, (2016), “Let’s Get Fiscal”, Project Syndicate, 8 June
Everyone knows there is no gain without pain. But there can be pain without gain – a lesson that Western populations have been learning the hard way since at least 2012. With years of fiscal austerity in the United States, Europe, and Japan having achieved nothing, it is time for governments to start spending again. The proposal will be met with outrage from many governments, especially, but not exclusively, Germany’s, and will be dismissed by the many political candidates who treat sovereign debt, built up by the incumbents they are seeking to depose, as the devil’s work. But beyond ideology and self-interest lies a simple and unavoidable truth: austerity is not working.
Relevant Posts
- Cohen-Setton, Jérémie, (2016), “The abandonment of counter-cyclical fiscal policy”, Bruegel, 30 Μay
- Nicoletta Batini, Giovanni Melina, Stefania Villa, (2016), “Fiscal Buffers, Private Debt, and Stagnation : The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, IMF WP No. 16/104