PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Martin McKee
AU  - Marina Karanikolos
AU  - Paul Belcher
AU  - David Stuckler
TI  - Austerity: a failed experiment on the people of Europe
AID  - 10.7861/clinmedicine.12-4-346
DP  - 2012 Aug 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - 346--350
VI  - 12
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/12/4/346.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/12/4/346.full
SO  - Clin Med2012 Aug 01; 12
AB  - Many governments in Europe, either of their own volition or at the behest of the international financial institutions, have adopted stringent austerity policies in response to the financial crisis. By contrast, the USA launched a financial stimulus. The results of these experiments are now clear: the American economy is growing and those European countries adopting austerity, including the UK, Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain, are stagnating and struggling to repay rising debts. An initial recovery in the UK was halted once austerity measures hit. However, austerity has been not only an economic failure, but also a health failure, with increasing numbers of suicides and, where cuts in health budgets are being imposed, increasing numbers of people being unable to access care. Yet their stories remain largely untold. Here, we argue that there is an alternative to austerity, but that ideology is triumphing over evidence. Our paper was written to contribute to discussions among health policy leaders in Europe that will take place at the 15th European Health Forum at Gastein in October 2012, as its theme ‘Crisis and Opportunity – Health in an Age of Austerity’.