Austerity’s advocates rely on one – and only one – argument: If fiscal contraction is part of a credible “consolidation” program aimed at permanently reducing the share of government in GDP, business expectations will be so encouraged by the prospect of lower taxes and higher profits that the resulting economic expansion will more than offset the contraction in demand caused by cuts in public spending. The economist Paul Krugman calls this the “confidence fairy.”
财政紧缩倡导者只是基于一个（且唯一一个）论点：如果财政紧缩属于可靠的旨在永久减少政府所占GDP份额的“巩固”计划中的一部分，那企业预期将会受到低税收和高利润前景的激励，由此产生的经济扩张也能抵消由削减公共支出所引起的需求紧缩。对此经济学家保罗·克鲁格曼（Paul Krugman）称之为“信心的童话”。