Austerity as epiphenomenon? Public assets before and beyond 2008

Abstract

To what extent did the resurgence of austerity in the post-2008 context reverse or indelibly alter established directions and thinking in public sector economic management? Historicising recent bouts of austerity in Ireland, Canada, Spain and Denmark, this article concludes that the implications of austerity are diverse but the direction is uniform: despite clear varieties, strikingly similar trajectories emerge. Given that patterns of public asset privatisation and public sector marketisation hold both before and beyond 2008, austerity may be considered an epiphenomenal feature in the orientation of public asset management.