Tuesday, November 08, 2016

A quick take on where TINA economics leads

Leonardo Costa summarizes the results of neoliberal economics based on TINA (There Is No Alternative) in Post Real Economics Feeds Post Real Politics Social Europe 10/24/2016:

TINA economics led many politicians in Europe to support the so-called expansionary austerity over the past eight years.

Reality shows every day that austerity causes recession instead of expansion, that it does not solve the trade imbalances of the Eurozone, leading the European Union into a dead end, causing the loss of millions of euros and, more critically, affecting the future of a whole generation of young Europeans. But TINA economics only cares about the government deficit and debt. For TINA economics, when reality is not consistent with theory, it is reality that must be constrained until it becomes consistent with the theory, not the other way around. Moreover, the European neoliberal political forces, which are neither new nor liberal, saw in the financial crisis the opportunity to reduce the size of the European welfare state (see here).

TINA economics is not really a scientific theory. It is the neoliberal agenda of the Washington Consensus making use of complex mathematical models as rhetoric to show a scientific appearance. It is Post Real Economics feeding Post Real Politics, with the latter forcing the implementation of Post Real Policies (the fiscal compact) under the supervision of Post Real Institutions (the Eurogroup).

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