The 2007/8 financial crisis has reignited the debate about economic austerity. With the aim of understanding why a government would pursue such a policy in the current context of persistent economic recession, this article traces the social, political and economic developments that have together...

This study uses two large datasets to explore the output dynamics following economic disasters, one including 180 economic disasters across 38 countries over the last two centuries, and the other including 204 economic disasters in 182 countries since World War II. Our results suggest that...

This paper investigates the dynamics of income distribution, private debt, and aggregate demand in the United States in the era before the Great Depression. Based on a post-Keynesian model, I estimate the effects of the wage share and private debt on aggregate demand for private domestic output....

While the causes of the collapse of cooperation in maintaining the international gold standard are subject to debate (the lack of a dominant central bank to coordinate global monetary policy versus the nonreflection of disparate inflation rates in exchange rate parities, for example), there is...

This paper investigates to what extent the tax and transfer systems in Europe protect households at different income levels against losses in current income caused by economic downturns like the present financial crisis. We use a multi country micro simulation model to analyse how shocks on...

This paper investigates the impact of the recent global recession on European countries and regions. We first present several stylized facts as to the heterogeneous impact of the global recession on individual European countries and regions. We then offer an investigation of three main classes...

The current economic crisis has hit all European countries hard, but some are much more severely affected others. The problems manifest in European peripheral countries, especially Ireland, Spain, and Greece, have roots in domestic policy mistakes. However, the European context of these policy...

This paper investigates the impact of the recent global recession on European countries and regions. We first present several stylized facts as to the heterogeneous impact of the global recession on individual European countries and regions. We then offer an investigation of three main classes...