This article explores what happens when the term “austerity” becomes a global catchword. Specifically, we study how this term has been used in national policy making in the Portuguese and Spanish parliaments from the 1970s until recently. We show that although Portugal and Spain were in a somewhat different situation regarding the 2008 economic crisis, the increased popularity of the term austerity occurred practically simultaneously in the Portuguese and Spanish parliaments. This suggests that the term's popularity in political debates is not solely determined by a nation's political or fiscal situation. Rather, our contention is that employing the term austerity to discuss government policies became a global fashion after the fiscal crisis of 2008. The study also shows why austerity became an increasingly popular concept: the term changed from being mainly used in fiscal policy to being commonly used in other policy areas too.
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