Austerity refers to simplicity and moderation, as well as the rigorous compliance with moral standards by individuals. The word austerity is of Latin origin austerites, consisting of 2 components: austerus which means “difficult or rough” and the suffix itas that expresses “quality”.
In reference to the definition given to the word, it can be observed that the term is used to describe people, things, situations or facts, that is, a thing is austere when in its characteristics it does not present too much luxury, but quite the opposite, it is very simple, for example: “the house is austere”, this means that its decoration, furniture are very simple.
As for the person, the austere adjective is used to describe a severe, rigid, sober or modest individual, in the case of a person who reduces his consumption or deprives himself of luxuries in order to reduce his expenses and, in many cases , the person has a good economic situation but prefers to lead this lifestyle thinking about the future.
Austerity is linked to frugality and asceticism. However, frugality is a quality of being thrifty, moderate, in turn, asceticism is the renunciation of economic pleasures in order to lead to moral and spiritual perfection. Therefore, austerity is living simply and without any luxury.
On the other hand, the term austerity is used as a synonym for: severity, rigor, hardness, roughness, minimalism, among others. Also, some antonyms of the word austerity are: abundance, wealth, waste, and so on.
Austerity as a value
The opposite of austerity is wastefulness, which is why austerity is a virtue, which allows the individual to control their expenses, since no one should acquire debts for owning assets or a luxury lifestyle that at a given time of Your life cannot acquire.
In reference to the above, the same thing happens in political life, since a country must encourage the promotion of wealth through different financial policies and not through debts to foreign countries that cause the ruin of a country.
Economic austerity
Economic austerity is a type of policy used by governments in economic crisis, which consists in the reduction of the public deficit through the reduction of public services and benefits granted to the people, achieving the deflation of expenses and increasing the payment of imposed by individuals.
However, the austerity policy is required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in which, as previously stated, it consists in the reduction of public expenses in order to pay off debts, consequently, it is a rigorous policy that limits the private and public consumption.
