This paper analyzes the political economy of the creeping militarization of U.S. foreign policy. The core argument is that in integrating the 3D approach -- defense, development, and diplomacy -- policymakers have assigned responsibilities to military personnel which go beyond their comparative...

The provision of public goods is often used to justify the state. Since many highly-valued goods such as education, national defense, roads, etc., possess some public characteristics (i.e. non-rivalry and non-excludability), standard theory predicts such goods will be underprovided by private...

While many costs of war are obvious and recognized, the full domestic consequences are often understated or overlooked. War making — both preparations for war and the act of war itself — provides an avenue through which constraints on governments are either weakened or ignored, allowing for...

This paper explores the importance of international trade in generating both immediate economic benefits and broader benefits of peace. We discuss the theoretical foundations of international trade as a source of economic and non-economic benefits that foster peace. Next, we review the empirical...

Unintended consequences entail the attainment of ends not originally envisioned when a person decides to pursue a particular course of action; the employment of particular means, expected to produce a certain desired consequence, actually produces different or additional consequences not...

This paper explores the "ratchet effect," which is a theory of government growth. The underlying logic is as follows. During a crisis, both the magnitude (or “scale”) and the range (or “scope”) of government activities grow, relative to before the crisis. After the crisis subsides, some...

This paper explores various aspects of government propaganda. We begin by reviewing the key literature in economics related to politics, information, and propaganda. We then discuss the techniques and functions of government propaganda before turning to the political economy of propaganda. We...

This paper first discusses the origins of the military-industrial complex in the United States. We then explore several ways that public choice economics can illuminate our understanding of the military-industrial complex. Specifically, we focus on the following issues. Defense contractors...

Following the start of the war on terror in 2001, U.S. policymakers determined that winning the war on drugs in Afghanistan was necessary for winning the war on terror. Yet despite spending $8.4 billion on drug interdiction in Afghanistan since 2002, opium production has grown substantially. We...

This essay is a joint review of Jennifer Stisa Granick's, American Spies: Modern Surveillance, Why You Should Care, and What To Do About It, and Barry Friedman's, Unwarranted: Policing Without Permission