This, unfortunately, is the age of austerity.

• Author: Nichols, John
• Position: Our Favorite Books of 2013 - 'Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea' and 'What Then Must We Do? Straight Talk for the Next American Revolution' - Book review

This, unfortunately, is the age of austerity. Despite the prattling of pundits and politicians about their debts and deficits, the U.S. government is not on a wild spending spree on behalf of impoverished Americans and the working poor. Quite the opposite. While there is always money for bank bailouts and wars, Washington in 2013 engaged in "serious" debates about whether to gut nutrition programs for children. That's not responsible. That's not logical. That's austerity. And it does not work. Indeed, by any reasonable measure, it has never worked. That's the point of political economist Mark Blyth's essential book, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea (Oxford University Press). In it, Blyth explains that the approaches adopted by European governments and U.S. officials, which hack away at spending on safety-net programs while promoting policies that weaken unions and reduce wages, have historically ended up undermining growth and weakening economies. The big winners are the bankers and CEOs who benefit from bailouts and privatization schemes.

Blyth's book explains how austerity politics and austerity governance redistribute wealth upward. It reminds us that we must seek...