ترجمۀ اقتصادی – متن ۶

ترجمۀ اقتصادی – متن ۶

یکشنبه، ۲۹ فروردین ۹۵

What Austerity Looks Like Around the World

We’ve noted before that most countries in Europe are engaged in austerity — defined as some mix of spending cuts and tax increases. But what’s the actual mix?

Here’s one helpful graph from the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook. It shows the projected change in the balance of the world’s wealthiest countries between 2013 and 2015.

Some countries, like Italy, are now consolidating their budgets primarily through revenue increases. Others, like Spain and Greece, seem to be relying far more heavily on spending cuts.

Some economic commentators have argued that Europe in particular is relying too heavily on austerity, period. They argue that attempts to tighten the budget during an economic slump will only hurt growth, which in turn makes it even harder for these countries to rein in their debt.

A few conservatives, meanwhile, have suggested that it’s not austerity per se that’s the problem — it’s the type of austerity. In the National Review, Veronique de Rugy argues that many European countries are relying too heavily on tax increases to rein in their deficits. She cites a few economists, including Scott Sumner, who argue that spending cuts combined with more stimuli from the central bank is the way to go.

There are not many countries around the world that have pursued this route, however. Sweden stands out as one country that has cut spending a bit while enjoying a big monetary stimulus from the Riksbank. By contrast, there are plenty of euro zone countries that are leaning very heavily on cuts — especially Portugal, Greece, and Ireland — and they’re still in trouble.