"Austerity — public spending cuts to reduce government debt — is associated with severe economic costs through lowering GDP, employment, private investment, and wages.
But the effects of public spending cuts on extreme party' vote shares have been badly-understood. This is now starting to change.
In a recent study, three academics, Ricardo Duque Gabriel, Mathias Klein and Ana Sofia Pessoa, have been able to convincingly show that austerity measures have been a significant driver of political extremism across Europe."