Modern economics has largely ignored the issue of outright conflict as an alternative way of allocating goods, assuming instead the existence of well-defined property rights enforced by an undefined third party. And yet even in ostensibly peaceful market transactions, conflict exists as an...

During the past two centuries, western nations have successively extended the voting franchise to citizens of lower income. We explain this process of democratization as a rational way for incumbent elites to wage war effectively on other nations, as in a strategic game of international conflict...

Intro -- Contents -- Series Foreword -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1 Strategic Aspects of Fighting in Alliances -- 2 Fiscal Equalization and Political Conflict -- 3 Natural Resources, Social Conflict, and Poverty Trap -- 4 A Game of Thrones: Power Structure and the Stability of Regimes -- 5 The...