Full Citation
Title: The Economics of Conflict and Peace: History and Applications
Citation Type: Book, Whole
Publication Year: 2021
ISBN: 9781108923033
ISSN:
DOI: 10.1017/9781108923033
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Abstract: Written for an audience of students, general readers, and economists alike, this volume is a primer on the field of the economics of conflict and peace. It offers a reasonably comprehensive, systematic, and detailed overview – even if in broad strokes – of the field’s orthodox and heterodox history of thought and current theories and evidence. We view this Element as a baseline account on which to build a future, separate and more fully developed, piece on the economics of peace, economic growth, and human development. In terms of process, Brauer and Silwal conceptualized the volume. Anderton, Brauer, Coyne, Dunne, and Silwal contributed draft sections, and all authors then reviewed, critiqued, and constructively commented on each other’s work. Anderton and Silwal wrestled the citations and references into shape, Brauer carried out the final editing for integration, cohesion, and flow, and Silwal led the overall effort to shepherd the volume through to production. Content-wise, Section 1, written by Anderton and Brauer and the only section in Part I, situates the field of conflict and peace economics within the discipline of economics. Part II is a synopsis of the fields’ intellectual history. We start in Section 2 with Coyne’s introduction to the Austrian school of economics and its perhaps surprising relevance for conflict and peace economics today. Marxian, post-Keynesian, and other heterodox economists’ thoughts are reviewed in Section 3, written by Dunne. Arranged by subfield, Section 4, written by Silwal with contributions by Brauer, characterizes the development of the mostly neoclassical and neo-Keynesian post-Second World War literature. From history of thought, the Element moves in Part III to presentations of selected theory and evidence of the contemporary literature. Coyne illustrates in Section 5 how preparing for and engaging in war increases the scale and scope of government in overlooked, and politically and economically often uncomfortable and crucial, ways. In a similar vein, Dunne reviews the literature on the effects of military expenditure and the cost of war on economic development in Section 6, a literature stimulated although by no means dominated by heterodox views. Rounding out Part III, Anderton and Brauer summarize examples of neoclassical-based theories and empirical case studies in Section 7. Section 8, the only section in Part IV, and written in the main by Silwal, then turns to underexplored and altogether missing topics in conflict and peace economics research. Altogether, the Element (a) contextualizes the field of conflict and peace economics, (b) outlines its history of thought, (c) highlights examples of current theoretical and empirical scholarship in the field, and (d) maps trajectories for further research.
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Authors: Silwal, Shikha Basnet; Anderton, Charles H.; Brauer, Jurgen; Coyne, Christopher J.; Dunne, J. Paul
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
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Pages: 1-88
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Data Collections: IPUMS International
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure
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