Sometimes economists in official positions give bad advice; sometimes they give very, very bad advice; and sometimes they work at the OECD.

It’s almost exactly three years since the Paris-based OECD gave what may have been the worst advice of any major international organization — worse than the European Commission, worse than the ECB. Not only did it join in the demand for fiscal austerity, it also demanded that the US start raising interest rates rapidly, so as to head off the threat of inflation — even though its own models showed no such threat.

So here we are three years later. No inflation takeoff in America (and the Fed trying to find ways to boost demand at a zero rate); austerity economics has crashed and burned; the latest numbers from Eurostat look like this:

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And what is the OECD’s chief economist (still the same person) saying?

The euro zone is at risk of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by abandoning efforts to cut budget deficits and fix long-standing economic problems, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development‘s chief economist warned Monday.

…

Mr. Padoan said the growing perception that austerity has been futile is incorrect. “Fiscal consolidation is producing results, the pain is producing results,” he said. He added that euro-zone policy makers need to do a better job of communicating their successes to a weary population.

I believe that’s eurospeak for “the beatings will continue until morale improves.”