Austerity vs Stimulus

This timely book debates the economic and political logic of the austerity policies that have been implemented in the UK and in the Eurozone since 2010 and asks whether there is any alternative for these countries in the years ahead. The work reconsiders the austerity versus stimulus debate through the voices of those who proposed the successful idea of expansionary austerity and those who opposed it. The editors have brought together a collection of articles written by some of the most notable figures in the discipline, including the likes of Alberto Alesina, Ken Rogoff, Tim Besley, David Graeber, Vince Cable, and Paul Krugman. The book also features the debate between Niall Ferguson and Robert Skidelsky. These leading thinkers unveil a world where economists are far from agreeing on economic policy, and where politics often dominates the discussion. The question of whether the British government should have opted for austerity runs through the book, as well as how sustained economic recovery should be encouraged in the future. Scholars, students and members of the general public with an interest in the financial crisis and its lingering aftermath will find this work invaluable.

Robert Skidelsky is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at Warwick University, UK. He is best known for his work on John Maynard Keynes, including a three-volume biography and Keynes: The Return of the Master (2009). Most recently he co-authored How Much is Enough?: Money and the Good Life (2012) with his son, Edward Skidelsky.

Nicolò Fraccaroli is a PhD student in Economics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy. He obtained his MSc in the Political Economy of Europe at the London School of Economics, UK. Previously he worked for the Centre for Global Studies, London, UK, on the reform of the economics curriculum. He is a member of the Rethinking Economics network and founded its organisation in Italy.

“In many European countries, and especially in the United Kingdom, the austerity policies followed since the financial crisis have led to political upheaval and are increasingly put into question. This book comes at the right time. It brings together the arguments of economists pro and con austerity. The originality of the book is to introduce a historical perspective to this debate.” (Paul De Grauwe, LSE, UK)

“This book is a veritable treasury of the key sources on the most controversial economic issue of our time - austerity. Not only has it collected the most important writings on the subject but it also provides highly sophisticated but accessible introductions to each of them. It is an absolutely essential reading for everyone who wants to understand what is going on with our economy and politics.” (Ha-Joon Chang, University of Cambridge, UK)

“In this excellent intellectual biography of the crisis, Skidelsky and Fraccaroli give us both the historical arguments, and the contemporary adaptations of these arguments, for Austerity and Stimulus. The politics of economic theory has never been so clearly exposed.” (Mark Blyth, Professor of International Political Economy, Brown University, UK)