First, because the cuts had to be “credible” – that is, large and decisive – the continuing absence of growth could be blamed on the insufficiency of the cuts. Thus, Europe’s failure to recover “immediately” has been due to a lack of austerity, even though public-sector retrenchment has been unprecedented.
但有两个错误使得阿尔塞纳和其他经济学家提供的“证据”无效。首先，由于削减必须是“可靠的”——也就是大规模且决定性的——那么如果经济增长持续放缓人们就会认为是削减不足。因此，欧洲经济不能“立刻”恢复可以归咎为缺乏紧缩——即使公共财政紧缩已经到达了史无前例的程度。