The Watson Institute at Brown University presents Mark Blyth on Austerity

A Watson Institute video on the global trend toward Austerity budgets featuring Mark Blyth, the author of Austerity: The history of a dangerous idea (http://www.amazon.com/Austerity-The-H...)

Directed by Joe Posner

Produced by
Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies (watsoninstitute.org) in association with the Global Conversation (globalconversation.org) and Global Media Project (globalmediaproject.net).

Mark Blyth is a professor of International Political Economy at Brown University and faculty fellow at its Watson Institute for International Studies. He is writing "Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea," forthcoming from Oxford University Press in 2011.

• Category

  News & Politics

[Eastsideweezy]

Of course he leaves out the massive massive amounts of money wasted by governments delivering these services.

For example look at education spending in the USA. The vast majority of it isn't going to the classroom or the teachers but rather feeding a massive corrupt system that doesn't deliver on results.

If you cut education spending in half the results would change little as they can not get much worse in the USA.

[Zlatko Hernčič]

EU TROIKA - Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse....But where is the fourth? GOD?

[Kyle Cruickshank]

Babbage callme Alan elliotts

[Tyler H]

You pivoted nicely from moving countries to moving states.. I'll give you that. Obviously moving from california to florida is very different than moving from the U.S. to, say, Slovakia (which has the lowest top marginal rate in the OECD I believe). And yes, in the news they have talked about how sports and entertainment figures.. who do not contribute to the local economy at all, are CONSIDERING moving. By your logic, all rich people would live in Florida. And Slovakia. This is clearly untrue.

[hotneo7]

Have you read a newspaper lately? Who's talking about leaving the country? The rich are fleeing CA for non-income tax states like Florida or low tax like Texas. That is a simple fact when governments increase tax and the rich have always neglected their civic duty to stay rich using loopholes and tax havens offshore.

[Tyler H]

Marginal tax rates are not even close to the only factor in people's decision about where to live. And Even if the top rate were raised to 40%, they would still have lower rates (especially considering capital gains) than most anywhere else in the developed world. The top rate in France is 70%, and they still don't have the 'mass exodus' of rich people you are irrationally afraid of.

[hotneo7]

And that is why governments will keep raising debt ceiling and print more money to fund it...only problem the program gets diluted with devalued currency so either cut entitlements completely or give them funny money that doesn't buy bread. Ask any German about hyperinflation. The middle class is huge, but the higher end are quickly joining the 1% and the rest lost 40% of their net worth. The middle class will be taxed more this year than the rich. Just watch and see.

[Terraxos]

Do you really think everyone who isn't in the top 1% is 'middle class'? That's an awfully broad idea of the 'middle'!

I have to agree with you on the need to cut pensions and benefits to the boomer generation, though.The problem is, there's too many of them, and no government in any Western country wants to piss off such a powerful demographic group.

[hotneo7]

400 people make the top 1%, imagine if they took their money and hop on their private jet and left. The country will have no rich to tax and the middle class will be left holding the bag. So much for voting for politicians that promise to tax the rich. The solution is cutting benefits. There are too many baby boomers that are cashing out, a run on the government. Some don't really need it as they own several houses and have a stock portfolio that should be liquid. Game over for the seniors.

[Pk B]

nice education