n. A person who believes that extreme fiscal austerity is the key to solving economic problems, particularly for countries carrying huge debt loads.
2013
When it comes to inflicting pain on the citizens of debtor nations, austerians are all steely determination — hey, it’s a tough world, and hard choices have to be made.
2013
"Austerians," as the champions of fiscal prudence are called, perhaps a little uncharitably, are in retreat because an emphasis on deficit cutting has failed to generate a convincing recovery.
1996 (earliest)
Remember, the political idea being expressed a year ago was that because the GOP interpreted its 1994 mandate as a call to budget-balancing austerity, the electorate would never give the White House to the GOP if its nominee was also a root-canal austerian.
See if you like this sample, which ends with a typically Austerian twist. "For the first few weeks, they did what they could to make the rooms habitable, diligently attacking all manner of blight and decay, treating each small task as if it were a momentous human endeavor, and bit by bit they turned their wretchedly inadequate pigsty into something that might, with some generosity, be classified as a hovel."