Crucially, those conditions have practically nothing to do with expectation mechanisms or cutting the welfare state. Deploying austerity in less than those ideal conditions has helped propel Spain and Greece to the brink of economic and political collapse and impoverished millions of people throughout the rest of Southern Europe. This is not “blown out of proportion rhetoric.” It is a fact. Austerity’s continuing application may well result in the eventual breakup of the Eurozone and have political repercussions that the weak institutions of the EU are unlikely to withstand. The cases cited as its successes, the justification for following this policy are, as we shall see, like positive cases of structural adjustment: few, far between, and quite possibly wrong.

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 479