Read all posts for ‘austerity’

“Joder, que nosotros nos hemos venío porque allá no hay trabajo…” (F*** man, we came here because there are no jobs there…) answered the Spanish couple to my inquiries about their origin and their visit to the beautiful Mexican beaches of Los Cabos, Baja California Sur. I had finally met […]

Even in previous decades during years of high growth, Slovakia still ran up big deficits. To enter the euro area a country has to meet a reasonable set of criteria known as the Maastricht criteria. This means that a country which gives up its local currency must keep its deficit […]

What can the experiences of people and communities tell us about the value of austerity measures? Have austerity policies exacerbated inequality in our societies, or rendered us all more equal? How do people in different countries view austerity policies?

Ever since the negative effects of the global economic crisis began to show in 2009, countries have nearly focused on patching budget deficits and reducing debt to retain “economic health”. But recently European Union leaders have begun to acknowledge that speedy  spending cuts could not be the magic solution for […]

What is the difference between austerity policies and the politics of austerity? At a time when Europe is pondering how to deal with its debt crisis problem, we look back at the experience of Latin America during the 1980s Latin American debt crisis. Understanding what happened then, and recognizing the advances in economics and government, may yield some lessons for Europe.