Austerity and Economics: Why Germany and European Union supported austerity and why Europe is lagging behind in its recovery after the crisis

• Main Author: FLORIN BONCIU
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nicolae Titulescu University 2014-05-01
• Series: Global Economic Observer
• Subjects: Book review
• Online Access: http://www.globeco.ro/wp-content/uploads/vol/split/vol_1_no_2/geo_2013_vol1_no2_art_024.pdf

Before discussing about austerity and the well documented and highly captivating analysis of it done by Mark Blyth1 in his book “Austerity – The History of a Dangerous Idea” some introduction about the economic crisis that started in 2008 is needed. The reason for this logical and contextual need is the fact that in the European Union, particularly in the Euro area (in countries like PIIGS – Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain) as well as in the less developed member countries (Romania included), austerity started to be advocated as a cure for the crisis despite the fact that five years later the results are still expected to manifest in any significant way. The point we want to make here is that indeed starting with 2008 it was an economic crisis but not a global one.