Nobel-winner: Ideas behind austerity are misguided

Austerity has been forced on Ireland because of a misguided ideology that sinners must be punished, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

The mistakes made before the financial crash in 2008 have been well ventilated, he said. But the mistakes made after 2008 “were unnecessary”.

The Columbia University economics professor was speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.