NY Times: Europa virker ikke

I de lande der har gennemført de værste nedskæringer, er gælden eksploderet og økonomien blevet værre.

New York Times skriver:

It seems like every day brings new evidence of what Keynesians have long known: Austerity is counterproductive in times of recession. Just last week, a Times editorial reviewed data from the European Union showing that “countries that have most ruthlessly cut their budgets–Greece, especially–have seen their overall debt loads increase as a share of the economy.”

On Wednesday the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, a nonpartisan economic think tank based in London, released a study making the same point. As the Wall Street Journal summarized, the study found that “the ratio of debt to gross domestic product will be around 5 percentage points higher in both the U.K. and the euro zone because of the spending cuts and tax rises pursued from 2011 to 2013.” The study argued: “not only would growth have been higher if such policies had not been pursued, but debt-to-GDP ratios would have been lower.”

So not only do budget cuts do nothing to spur the overall economy; they make it worse. And not only do budget cuts do nothing to lower debt-to-GDP ratios; they increase them.

Læs Europe Isn’t Working hos New York Times.