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- Title
Lobotomizing the defense brain.
- Authors
Coyne, Christopher
- Abstract
Economists model national defense as a pure public good optimally provided by a benevolent and omnipotent 'defense brain' to maximize social welfare. I critically consider five assumptions associated with this view: (1) that defense and security is a pure public good that must be provided by a national government, (2) that state-provided defense is always a 'good' and never a 'bad', (3) that the state can provide defense in the optimal quantity and quality, (4) that state expenditures on defense are neutral with respect to private economic activity, and (5) that state-provided defense activities are neutral with respect to domestic political institutions. I discuss an alternative framework-the 'individualistic view'-for analyzing defense provision and suggest it is superior for understanding reality.
- Subjects
CIVIL defense; NATIONAL security; MILITARY-industrial complex; PUBLIC goods; PUBLIC finance
- Publication
Review of Austrian Economics, 2015, Vol 28, Issue 4, p371
- ISSN
0889-3047
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11138-015-0316-x