Why austerity persists / Jon Shefner, Cory Blad.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shefner, Jon, 1958- author.

Blad, Cory, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic policy.

Economic development--Government policy--Case studies.

Economic development.

Government spending policy.

Social policy.

Economic development--Government policy.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

viii, 203 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Medford, MA : Polity Press, [2019]

Summary:

In the wake of the 2008 crisis, many nations in the Global North turned to austerity policies in an effort to resolve financial ills. What many failed to recognize is the longer history and varied pattern of such policies in the Global South over the preceding decades - policies which had largely proven to fail. In this book, Shefner and Blad trace the 45-year history of austerity policies and how they became the go-to policy to resolve a host of economic problems. The authors use a variety of cases from the Global North and South to address how austerity has been implemented, who has been hurt, and who has benefited. The authors argue that because the powers that impose austerity have changed over time, the policy has been used to address different kinds of crises, making states and polities responsible for a variety of errors and misdeeds of private actors. The book answers a number of important questions: why austerity persisted as a policy aimed at resolving national crises, despite evidence that it often does not work; how the policy itself evolved over recent decades; and who and what the powerful people and institutions are that have helped impose it across the globe. This timely book will appeal to students, researchers, and policy-makers interested in austerity, development, political economy, and economic sociology.

Contents:

Many paths to austerity

From development to the lost decade in Latin America

African austerity

Austerity in Asia and Oceania

The United States and the inevitability of austerity

Austerity lands in the European Union

Why austerity persists

Bibliography.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Shefner, Jon, 1958- author. Why austerity persists.

ISBN:

9781509509867

1509509860

9781509509874

1509509879

OCLC:

1090687990