RE: Austerity and economic analysis in general >How Seriously Should We Take Economics? >Economics is a science—it proceeds via hypothesis and empirical testi

RE: Austerity and economic analysis in general >How Seriously Should We Take Economics? >Economics is a science—it proceeds via hypothesis and empirical testing—but it’s a soft and squishy one, and any argument to the contrary should be treated with great suspicion. Especially in macroeconomics, hard-and-fast laws are hard to find. So are stable parameters and reliable empirical studies. Often, about the best we can do is isolate general tendencies, and then look carefully to see whether they apply in the case under consideration.[0] [0]https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/the-reinhart-and-rogoff-controversy-a-summing-up https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/the-reinhart-and... I encourage anyone interested in austerity to read this article. It's relatively short and insightful.