In their book “The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills”, David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu scrutinize the impact of economic policy to the life and death of the world’s population during recession. To serve their purpose, they discover the term “body economic” which is defined as “a group of persons organized under a common set of economic policies; a people whose lives are collectively affected by these policies” (p. 139). They argue that the neoliberal austerity policy has lethal impact and cause unnecessary sufferings to human-being while stimulus policy creates better health and economic outcomes. Through their book, they call for a change of paradigm in dealing with recession, that the governments should protect “the community’s most basic
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The book is in conjunction with a number of publications in the economic fields which argue that austerity inhibits economic growth therefore needs to be reexamined if not ended (Herndon et al., 2013, O 'Brien, 2014, Végh, 2014). It also advances the arguments of public health experts on the danger of austerity to health (Bezruchka, 2009, Borisch, 2014, Burgard et al., 2013) . In fact, the crucial evidence on the cause-effect relationship between austerity and mortality stipulated in the book has provoked renewal on the debates that austerity is not only harmful but it also costs significant human lives. After all, Stuckler and Basu share the same idea with others who argue that austerity is never the right prescription because it impedes economic gain and extends human sufferings during hard …show more content…
Sweden’s Active Labor Market Programs with $360 per capita per year government investment resulted in stable decrease of suicides among males, while in Spain with only $90 investment “the trends of unemployment strongly correlated with suicides” (p. 116).
“A Plague on All Your Houses” is the last chapter of the book which juxtaposes the American’s stimulus and British’s austerity policy in housing programs. The US avoid increase rate of mental health problems and infectious disease which correlate with homelessness with effective housing programs, while UK suffers 8% rise of Tuberculosis outbreak after cutting housing budgets.
However, the discussions in this final part are limited on resilience at the country level and less exposure on the social factors in the community which is significant for their resilience. A study argues that community resilience towards recession is strongly influenced by “social resources” of local social and family networks which able to protect community from the damaging consequences of recession (Batty and Cole, 2010). The Iceland’s democratic participation and social support presented in the book earlier is one of the good example that should be elaborated in this part of the book.
The book is in conjunction with a number of publications in the economic fields which argue that austerity inhibits economic growth therefore needs to be reexamined if not ended (Herndon et al., 2013, O 'Brien, 2014, Végh, 2014). It also advances the arguments of public health experts on the danger of austerity to health (Bezruchka, 2009, Borisch, 2014, Burgard et al., 2013) . In fact, the crucial evidence on the cause-effect relationship between austerity and mortality stipulated in the book has provoked renewal on the debates that austerity is not only harmful but it also costs significant human lives. After all, Stuckler and Basu share the same idea with others who argue that austerity is never the right prescription because it impedes economic gain and extends human sufferings during hard …show more content…
Sweden’s Active Labor Market Programs with $360 per capita per year government investment resulted in stable decrease of suicides among males, while in Spain with only $90 investment “the trends of unemployment strongly correlated with suicides” (p. 116).
“A Plague on All Your Houses” is the last chapter of the book which juxtaposes the American’s stimulus and British’s austerity policy in housing programs. The US avoid increase rate of mental health problems and infectious disease which correlate with homelessness with effective housing programs, while UK suffers 8% rise of Tuberculosis outbreak after cutting housing budgets.
However, the discussions in this final part are limited on resilience at the country level and less exposure on the social factors in the community which is significant for their resilience. A study argues that community resilience towards recession is strongly influenced by “social resources” of local social and family networks which able to protect community from the damaging consequences of recession (Batty and Cole, 2010). The Iceland’s democratic participation and social support presented in the book earlier is one of the good example that should be elaborated in this part of the book.