The third lesson that the IMF was unable to apply in Greece is that austerity often leads to a vicious cycle, as spending cuts cause the economy to contract far more than it would have otherwise. Because the IMF lends money on a short-term basis, there was an incentive to ignore the effects of austerity in order to arrive at growth projections that imply an ability to repay.
IMF没能用在希腊身上的第三个教训是紧缩常常导致恶性衰退，因为削减支出导致经济较之不削减支出的情况大幅收缩。IMF的贷款都是短期的，因此有激励忽视紧缩的影响，从而实现增长预测，而实现增长预测意味着有偿付能力。与此同时，其他欧元区成员国为了论证减少融资的正确性，也心安理得地忽视紧缩的灾难性后果。