Randy Wray —As Global Growth Slows, Austerians Demand More Blood-Letting

You don’t often encounter controlled experiments in the social sciences. Nations usually balk at using their economies as Guinea pigs. But right now they’re lining up to see if it really is possible to cut your way back to prosperity. So here’s the question: is starvation a cure for hunger? Over coming months we’ll find out.

Economonitor — Great Leap Forward
As Global Growth Slows, Austerians Demand More Blood-Letting
L. Randall Wray | Professor of Economics, UMKC

BTW, blood-letting is a great metaphor. It suggests quackery, which is its intent. Medical metaphors are particularly well suited to economics in that they connect real people to real operations and their consequences. Brings it home.