Economics & The Economy
Round 2 in the Krugman – Chait – Binder vs. Scarborogh kerfuffle… On Scarbourough’s show this morning one of his guests cited Estonia economy as an example that austerity works. Oh please, all over Europe we see the stifling if not crushing effects of austerity and Estonia a country of 1.3 million people (1/6th the size of NYC’s population) is proof that austerity works? It seems to me the right is very proudly cherry picking Estonia out from the crowd of failures as their proof that austerity works.
- Krugman Takes Opera Bow as Estonia Sings Blues on Euro Wages – Bloomberg
- Estonia and Austerity: Another Exploding Cigar for Paul Krugman – Forbes The libertarian anti-Keynesian flat-tax champion Daniel Mitchell inserts a straw man in his piece saying:
Krugman presumably wants us to think that the downturn coincided with spending cuts.
No, he doesn’t. Not at all true. Krugman has nowhere that I can find blamed austerity for causing the economic downturn in Estonia but instead is saying when you really want to turn around a depression austerity is not the solution and is instead a drag and a hindrance.
- Estonian Rhapsody: Did Krugman cherry-pick data? | GlobalPost
The argument that Estonia is proof that austerity works and we should all embrace the concept is in some sense a cherry picked conclusion in and of itself. It’s like saying that the one person who adopted a nothing but grapefruit diet and lost weight is proof that a grapefruit diet is the best way to lose weight. Ridiculous.
Politics