Austerity — the policy of restraining public spending and focusing on deficits — is being practiced in Europe, and to a lesser extent, the United States. A new book out this week by medical researchers David Zuckler and Sanjay Basu says this austerity is not only bad for the economy, but for human health.
Zuckler and Basu looked at the impact of austerity in the U.S. and Europe and found devastating effects. These range from 10,000 people in Britain made homeless thanks to budget cuts to over five million Americans losing health care coverage thanks to the recession and reductions in public health care spending.
Some of these cuts have had lethal effects, too. The researchers estimated an uptick of 10,000 suicides across the U.S. and Europe, and in Greece, HIV infection has increased by 200 percent.
The researchers note that progressive labor and social policies have helped some countries escape this damaging austerity. They note that in Sweden, suicides actually fell during the recession, thanks to generous unemployment programs.
Also, they looked back at U.S. history and estimated that the New Deal helped save American lives, writing that “each extra $100 of relief spending from the American New Deal led to about 20 fewer deaths per 1,000 births, four fewer suicides per 100,000 people and 18 fewer pneumonia deaths per 100,000 people.”
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