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Friday, August 12, 2011

Austerity Causes Rioting--A 90-Year History

Researchers at the Centre for Economic Policy Research examined historical data going back to the 1930s and found that “austerity has tended to go hand in hand with politically motivated violence and social instability,” AllGov.com reported today. The researchers said that “The results show a clear positive correlation between fiscal retrenchment and instability.” (See Austerity and Anarchy: Budget Cuts and Social Unrest in Europe, 1919-2009 by Jacopo Ponticelli and Hans-Joachim Voth, Centre for Economic Policy Research)

They also found that demonstrations, riots, assassinations and general strikes all increased in proportion to the severity of cutbacks in social spending. Rioting, however, dropped slightly after the biggest cutbacks.

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