Contributor(s): Professor Mark Blyth | Governments have advanced a policy of draconian budget cuts - austerity - to solve the financial crisis. Austerity however is a dangerous idea that has time and again led to low growth and income inequality. "Austerity" marshals an army of facts to demand that we recognize austerity for what it is, and what it costs us. Mark Blyth is professor of International Political Economy at Brown University. Jonathan Hopkin is reader in Comparative Politics at the Department of Government, LSE.