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The role of belief in the case for austerity policies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Sheila C Dow
Sheila C Dow*
Affiliation:
University of Stirling, UK
*
Sheila C Dow, Division of Economics, Stirling Management School, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK. Email: s.c.dow@stir.ac.uk
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Abstract

Mainstream economists give the misleading impression that their argument for austerity is purely technical and indeed the most ‘scientific’. The argument developed here is that their reasoning is not, any more than that of their heterodox critics, independent of ideology, power and ethics. The widespread belief in austerity policies as scientifically justified has prevented arguments against austerity gaining more traction; issues of ideology, power and ethics need to be brought to the fore as part of the arguments on both sides. In other words, awareness of the epistemological issues arising from an open-system ontology is critical to understanding the crisis and the policy response, and therefore to challenging that understanding and encouraging a radical policy shift. The critique of austerity policies would therefore be strengthened by a critique of the mainstream’s rhetorical (mis)representation of economic theorising.

Keywords

B4E1E62Belieffiscal austerityscience

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Articles
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The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 29 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015

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