# Event Details

- **Event Name**: The Politics of Austerity: How Cuts, Control, and “Sound Economics” Shape Our Lives
- **Event Start and End Date**: Fri, 20 Mar, 2026 at 12:00 pm
- **Event Description**: Austerity is often sold as a matter of “living within our means” — a set of tough but necessary choices to balance the books. But as this session will explore, austerity is not an economic necessity; it’s a political choice. And it reaches far beyond welfare cuts. We’ll look at the three faces of austerity: fiscal (reduced public spending and social security), industrial (low wages, insecure jobs, and deindustrialisation that benefits global profits), and monetary (high interest rates and debt repayments that enrich the already wealthy). Together, these form a system designed to discipline workers, protect financial interests, and centralise power.

Using a heterodox lens, Political Economist William Thomson, will present an overview and then chair a session unpacking how institutions like the OBR, central banks, and “fiscal rules” cloak political decisions in the language of technocracy — as if economics were a natural law, rather than a human made system.

From the post-2008 crisis to today’s energy and housing struggles, austerity has persisted under the illusion of necessity, while fuelling inequality and resentment. This session asks us to see austerity for what it really is: not belt-tightening, but a deliberate restructuring of the economy — one that too often paves the way for authoritarian politics. Professor John T Harvey and Emma Holten, Author of "Deficit: How Feminist Economics Can Change Our World", join the panel.
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/edinburgh/the-politics-of-austerity-how-cuts-control-and-sound-economics-shape-our-lives/200029699273423
- **Event Categories**: art, literary-art
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 21

## Ticket Details


## Event venue details

- **city**: Edinburgh
- **state**: SC
- **country**: United Kingdom
- **location**: The Out of the Blue Drill Hall
- **lat**: 55.964460807102
- **long**: -3.1743383435448
- **full address**: The Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 44 Buchanan Street, Edinburgh, EH6 8, United Kingdom

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: The Politics of Austerity: How Cuts, Control, and “Sound Economics” Shape Our Lives
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events1/banners/d7531c52c5540456220965d42d323ef8886ca6a0aea59fda1764d3ee74d9c95d-rimg-w1200-h675-dcfe3030-gmir?v=1773428841

## FAQs

- **Q**: When and where is The Politics of Austerity: How Cuts, Control, and “Sound Economics” Shape Our Lives being held?
  - **A:** The Politics of Austerity: How Cuts, Control, and “Sound Economics” Shape Our Lives takes place on Fri, 20 Mar, 2026 at 12:00 pm to Fri, 20 Mar, 2026 at 12:00 pm at The Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 44 Buchanan Street, Edinburgh, EH6 8, United Kingdom.
- **Q**: Who is organizing The Politics of Austerity: How Cuts, Control, and “Sound Economics” Shape Our Lives?
  - **A:** The Politics of Austerity: How Cuts, Control, and “Sound Economics” Shape Our Lives is organized by Scotland's Economics Festival.

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