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Borrowed Power: Debt Finance and the Resort to Arms

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  • SLANTCHEV, BRANISLAV L.

Abstract

Military expenditures are often funded by debt, and sovereign borrowers are more likely to renege on debt-service obligations if they lose a war than if they win one or if peace prevails. This makes expected debt service costlier in peace, which can affect both crisis bargaining and war termination. I analyze a complete-information model where players negotiate in the shadow of power, whose distribution depends on their mobilization levels, which can be funded partially by borrowing. I show that players can incur debts that are unsustainable in peace because the opponent is unwilling to grant the concessions necessary to service them without fighting. This explanation for war is not driven by commitment problems or informational asymmetries but by the debt-induced inefficiency of peace relative to war. War results from actions that eliminate the bargaining range rather than from inability to locate mutually acceptable deals in that range.

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  • Slantchev, Branislav L., 2012. "Borrowed Power: Debt Finance and the Resort to Arms," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(4), pages 787-809, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:106:y:2012:i:04:p:787-809_00
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fearon, James D., 1995. "Rationalist explanations for war," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(3), pages 379-414, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Patrick E. Shea & Paul Poast, 2018. "War and Default," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(9), pages 1876-1904, October.
    2. Vesperoni , Alberto, 2013. "War Finance and the Modern State," NEPS Working Papers 6/2013, Network of European Peace Scientists.
    3. McDougal, Topher & Caruso, Raul, 2013. "Wartime Violence and Post-Conflict Development Policy: The Case of Agricultural Concessions in Mozambique," NEPS Working Papers 1/2013, Network of European Peace Scientists.
    4. Douglas Kriner & Breanna Lechase & Rosella Cappella Zielinski, 2018. "Self-interest, partisanship, and the conditional influence of taxation on support for war in the USA," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 35(1), pages 43-64, January.
    5. Gustavo A. Flores-Macías & Sarah E. Kreps, 2017. "Borrowing Support for War: The Effect of War Finance on Public Attitudes toward Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(5), pages 997-1020, May.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • N40 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - General, International, or Comparative

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