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Ludwig von Mises on war and the economy

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Abstract

In 1919, in the wake of the Central Power’s defeat in World War I, Ludwig von Mises published his second book, Nation, State, and Economy. The book explores the consequences of war and the type of political and economic arrangements likely to generate a lasting peace in the future. This paper reviews the book’s key themes regarding the relationship between war and the economy. We make connections between Mises’ insights and contemporary literature in order to demonstrate the continuing relevance of Nation, State, and Economy a century after its publication.

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Notes

  1. Interestingly, a majority of the studies looking at the effect of military spending on economic growth, as measured by standard aggregate figures, find either no effect or a negative effect (see Dunne and Tian 2013).

  2. For other treatments of issues with state sponsored research see Kealey 1997, Butos and McQuade 2006, and Klein 2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, George Mason University, MS 3G4, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Christopher J. Coyne

  2. Washington, DC, USA

    Anne R. Bradley

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  1. Christopher J. Coyne
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  2. Anne R. Bradley
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Correspondence to Christopher J. Coyne.

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Coyne, C.J., Bradley, A.R. Ludwig von Mises on war and the economy. Rev Austrian Econ 32, 215–228 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11138-019-0433-z

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