At the Toronto summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in June 2010, high-income countries turned to fiscal austerity. The emerging sovereign debt crises in Greece, Ireland and Portugal were one of the reasons for this. Policy makers were terrified by the risk that their countries would turn into Greece. The G20 communiqué was specific: “Advanced economies have committed to fiscal plans that will at least halve deficits by 2013 and stabilise or reduce government debt-to-GDP ratios by 2016.” Was this both necessary and wise? No.
在2010年6月举行的20国集团(G20)多伦多峰会上，高收入国家纷纷转向财政紧缩。希腊、爱尔兰和葡萄牙正在爆发的主权债务危机是促使这些国家调整政策的原因之一。各国的政策制定者们害怕本国可能会沦为另一个希腊。G20会议公报明确指出：“发达manbetx20客户端下载 体已承诺出台相关财政计划，到2013年时将财政赤字削减至少一半，到2016年时稳定住或降低政府债务相对国内生产总值(GDP)的比率。”这种做法是否既必要又明智？答案是否定的。