Alesina and Ardanga begin by noting that the ballooning of debts and deficits across the OECD is due in large part to the “bailout[s] of various types in the financial sector.” However, about this they “have nothing to say.” What they do have to say is that regardless of how we got into this mess, the only way out is through cutting the state. As before, they argue that “spending cuts are more effective than tax increases in stabilizing the debt and avoiding downturns.”

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 470