How could austerity proceed in such a turbulent time? Here again, experts induced consensus through the persuasive powers of an “objective” economic science. Experts justifi ed the necessity of fi scal austerity by suggesting that social reforms were only “concealing from the people the true economic situation” (Resolution V on Public Finance, Brussels 1920, vol. 1, 14). Once again, we notice the “neutral” standpoint taken by these experts whose purported role was to “inform” the people— incapable of understanding on their own— of the “true” road to economic redemption.

Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, loc. 744