Despite these states constituting an astonishing example of massive fiscal retrenchment and demonstrating a robust bounce back in growth, the REBLLs do not in fact provide much evidence for the expansionary austerity thesis. To see why, we need to understand that the economies the REBLLs built for themselves after communism were accidents waiting to happen. This is why they had to be so austere in the first place—the accident happened and it cost them a fortune. It’s an accident we have already seen in this book: yet another banking crisis that ended up on states’ balance sheets.

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 594