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...

State-provided defense is a form of non-comprehensive government planning subject to two inherent problems. The first is the “knowledge problem” of how to allocate scarce resources to their highest-valued uses. The second is the “power problem” due to the discretionary power granted to...

Orthodox economics models defense as a public good provided by a central nation state. This approach abstracts away from the diverse institutions and processes individuals use to provide defense in the actual world. This paper frames defense as a polycentric system whereby dispersed groups of...