Let's talk Austerity and its Alternatives

Welcome to 'Austerity and its Alternatives'! We are an international project bringing together academic and non-academic researchers and practitioners to make new and existing research on alternatives to austerity accessible to policy communities and the public. Our hope is to expand discussions around alternatives so as to achieve everyday, meaningful impacts.

 

We take an expanded view of austerity, which includes cuts to spending ('fiscal consolidation') and revenue (e.g. tax cuts), but also public sector restructuring and labour market reforms, which are very frequently deployed as part of overall austerity programs. Although there is substantial evidence that austerity harms rather than aids economic growth, that it disproportionately hurts the most vulnerable of society, and that it has sparked strings of protests and electoral defeats, it remains salient and prominent in everyday political and policy conversations. However, alternatives to austerity (e.g. in revenue, transfers, and investment) and its complementary programs is represented far less in these policy choices and conversations.

 

Our goal is to change that. We work with partners in Canada, Ireland, the UK, Germany, and Australia to push beyond the 'silos' of academic research to collaborate with non-academics, focus on everyday impacts, make research clear, deliver it through a variety of outputs, and mobilize it to reach policy communities and the public.

 

Thanks for reading about us! To learn more, read our Press Release and check out our 'about us' page which has information on the organization of this site, our partners, and participants. We'll post new content every Tuesday morning and our digest of austerity news Friday mornings. To keep up with our work, you can subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Twitter @AltAusterity and join the #altausterity conversation!