Professor Christopher Hood on the ‘boiling frog’ theory that explains attitudes to austerity cuts

A Century of Fiscal Squeeze Politics, by Christopher Hood and Dr Rozana Himaz of Oxford Brooks University, has been the subject of an article in the Oxford Mail (30 June), about how the slow and prolonged government spending cuts have affected public opinion, particularly in elections.  

In Dr Himaz’s words: “When the cuts are hard, the type of cuts that people notice, voters tend to punish those increases more than when they’re softer.”

Christopher added: “What is most distinctive about UK's most recent fiscal squeeze is that it has not featured a 'hard' revenue squeeze of tax rises, while comprising one of the largest spending squeezes in the century.

"This outcome raises the interesting question about whether the structure of modern state spending makes it harder than before to put the breaks on."

The full article is available here.

You can also learn more about the book itself by clicking here: https://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/publications/a-century-of-fiscal-squeeze-politics-100-years-of-austerity-politics-and-bureaucracy-in-britain.html