ABSTRACT
In 2010 macroeconomic policy across the world moved from fiscal stimulus to austerity. This move was never endorsed by the majority of academic macroeconomists, many of whom warned that it would delay the recovery from recession, or put the recovery at risk. By 2012, as it became clear that the Eurozone crisis was peculiar to the Eurozone, this anti-austerity view became a consensus among academic macroeconomists. Yet this consensus was rarely mentioned by the media. This chapter focuses on why academic opinion has been ignored on this and related issues, and why the media played a vital role in degrading the consensus academic view of the economic effects of Brexit during the EU referendum campaign.
