Over and over we hear mantras such as, “you can’t cure debt with debt”; as if the main objective was to cure debt rather than unemployment. The more excusable error you hear over and over is, “we can only get growth by reducing the deficit”.
That is the basic fallacy we have to contend with – the argument that growth requires confidence and confidence requires austerity. We need to constantly parade the evidence that austerity is bad for growth. Public opinion does matter and I feel guilty that, like so many economists, I have done little or nothing to refute in public the errors which are inflicting so much suffering on people.
Richard Layard, “Richard Layard explains the Manifesto for Economic Sense“, Vox, 28 Jun 2012.
Professor Layard asks everyone to register their support at www.manifestoforeconomicsense.org/
