IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/revaec/v28y2015i4p371-396.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Lobotomizing the defense brain

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher Coyne

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. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Coyne, 2015. "Lobotomizing the defense brain," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 371-396, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:28:y:2015:i:4:p:371-396
    DOI: 10.1007/s11138-015-0316-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11138-015-0316-x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11138-015-0316-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hayek, F. A., 1981. "Law, Legislation and Liberty, Volume 3," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226320908, September.
    2. Steven Horwitz, 1998. "Monetary Calculation and Mises's Critique of Planning," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 427-450, Fall.
    3. Boettke, Peter J. & Coyne, Christopher J., 2009. "Context Matters: Institutions and Entrepreneurship," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 5(3), pages 135-209, March.
    4. Walter Hettich & Stanley L. Winer, 2000. "Rules, Politics and the Normative Analysis of Taxation," Carleton Economic Papers 00-12, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised 2002.
    5. Jesús Huerta de Soto, 2010. "Socialism, Economic Calculation and Entrepreneurship," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13905.
    6. Higgs, Robert, 2006. "Depression, War, and Cold War: Studies in Political Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195182927, Decembrie.
    7. Giorgio d’Agostino & John Paul Dunne & Luca Pieroni, 2019. "Military Expenditure, Endogeneity and Economic Growth," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(5), pages 509-524, July.
    8. Gordon Tullock, 1971. "The paradox of revolution," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 89-99, September.
    9. Vaughn, Karen I, 1980. "Economic Calculation under Socialism: The Austrian Contribution," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 18(4), pages 535-554, October.
    10. Murray N. Rothbard, 1981. "The Myth of Neutral Taxation," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 1(2), pages 519-564, Fall.
    11. Israel M. Kirzner, 1997. "Entrepreneurial Discovery and the Competitive Market Process: An Austrian Approach," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 60-85, March.
    12. J. Paul Dunne & Ron Smith, 2010. "Military Expenditure And Granger Causality: A Critical Review," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5-6), pages 427-441.
    13. Fontanel, Jacques, 1995. "The economics of disarmament," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 19, pages 563-590, Elsevier.
    14. W. Lee Hansen & Burton A. Weisbrod, 1967. "Economics of the Military Draft," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 81(3), pages 395-421.
    15. Jurgen Brauer & John Paul Dunne, 2011. "Arms Trade Offsets: What Do We Know?," Chapters, in: Christopher J. Coyne & Rachel L. Mathers (ed.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War, chapter 13, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), 2007. "Handbook of Defense Economics," Handbook of Defense Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 1.
    17. Richard Wagner, 1966. "Pressure groups and political entrepreneurs: A review article," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 161-170, December.
    18. Christopher Blattman & Edward Miguel, 2010. "Civil War," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 3-57, March.
    19. Thomas Duncan & Christopher Coyne, 2013. "The overlooked costs of the permanent war economy: A market process approach," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 26(4), pages 413-431, December.
    20. David Kinsella, 2011. "The Arms Trade," Chapters, in: Christopher J. Coyne & Rachel L. Mathers (ed.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War, chapter 12, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. Dietrich Fischer & Jurgen Brauer, 2003. "Twenty questions for peace economics: A research agenda," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 223-236.
    22. Sandler, Todd, 1977. "Impurity of Defense: An Application to the Economics of Alliances," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 443-460.
    23. Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler, 2001. "Economics of Alliances: The Lessons for Collective Action," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 869-896, September.
    24. Randall Holcombe, 2008. "Why does government produce national defense?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 11-19, October.
    25. Todd Sandler, 1998. "Global and regional public goods: a prognosis for collective action," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 19(3), pages 221-247, August.
    26. Christopher Coyne & Abigail Hall, 2014. "The Case Against a U.S.-Arms Monopoly," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 42(2), pages 181-190, June.
    27. Charles Anderton & John Carter, 2005. "On Rational Choice Theory And The Study Of Terrorism," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 275-282.
    28. J. Paul Dunne & Nan Tian, 2015. "Military Expenditure, Economic Growth and Heterogeneity," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(1), pages 15-31, February.
    29. Dunne, J. Paul, 1995. "The defense industrial base," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 14, pages 399-430, Elsevier.
    30. Keith Hartley, 2007. "Defense economics: Achievements and challenges," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, EPS Publishing, vol. 2(1), pages 45-50, January.
    31. William F. Shughart, 2011. "Terrorism in Rational Choice Perspective," Chapters, in: Christopher J. Coyne & Rachel L. Mathers (ed.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    32. J. Paul Dunne & Nan Tian, 2013. "Military expenditure and economic growth: A survey," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, EPS Publishing, vol. 8(1), pages 5-11, April.
    33. Christopher Coyne & Russell Sobel & John Dove, 2010. "The non-productive entrepreneurial process," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 23(4), pages 333-346, December.
    34. Abigail R. Hall & Christopher J. Coyne, 2014. "The political economy of drones," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 445-460, October.
    35. Christopher J. Coyne & Steve Davies, 2007. "Empire: Public Goods and Bads," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 4(1), pages 3-45, January.
    36. Michael H. Rothkopf, 2007. "Thirteen Reasons Why the Vickrey-Clarke-Groves Process Is Not Practical," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 191-197, April.
    37. Christopher J. Coyne & Peter T. Leeson, 2004. "The Plight of Underdeveloped Countries," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 24(3), pages 235-249, Fall.
    38. Sandler,Todd, 2004. "Global Collective Action," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521834773.
    39. Enders, Walter & Sandler, Todd, 1995. "Terrorism: Theory and applications," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 9, pages 213-249, Elsevier.
    40. J. Paul Dunne & Ron Smith & Dirk Willenbockel, 2005. "Models Of Military Expenditure And Growth: A Critical Review," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(6), pages 449-461.
    41. Todd Sandler, 1977. "Impurity Of Defense: An Application To The Economics Of Alliances," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 443-460, August.
    42. Sandler,Todd & Hartley,Keith, 1995. "The Economics of Defense," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521447287.
    43. Weingast, Barry R, 1995. "The Economic Role of Political Institutions: Market-Preserving Federalism and Economic Development," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 1-31, April.
    44. Sandler,Todd, 2004. "Global Collective Action," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521542548.
    45. Christopher J. Coyne & Rachel L. Mathers (ed.), 2011. "The Handbook on the Political Economy of War," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13385.
    46. James M. Buchanan, 1949. "The Pure Theory of Government Finance: A Suggested Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57, pages 496-496.
    47. Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), 1995. "Handbook of Defense Economics," Handbook of Defense Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    48. Todd Sandler & Keith Hartley (ed.), 2003. "The Economics of Conflict," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, volume 0, number 2497.
    49. Todd Sandler, 2006. "Regional public goods and international organizations," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 5-25, March.
    50. David Cortright & George A. Lopez, 2011. "Sanctions as Alternatives to War," Chapters, in: Christopher J. Coyne & Rachel L. Mathers (ed.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War, chapter 26, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    51. Nathan Fiala & Stergios Skaperdas, 2011. "Economic Perspectives on Civil Wars," Chapters, in: Christopher J. Coyne & Rachel L. Mathers (ed.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alshamy, Yahya & Coyne, Christopher J. & Goodman, Nathan, 2023. "Noxious government markets: Evidence from the international arms trade," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 87-99.
    2. Coyne,Christopher J., 2020. "Defense, Peace, and War Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108724036.
    3. Peter J. Boettke & Henry A. Thompson, 2022. "Identity and off-diagonals: how permanent winning coalitions destroy democratic governance," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 191(3), pages 483-499, June.
    4. Christopher J. Coyne, 2023. "The Folly of Empire and the Science of Peace," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 38(Summer 20), pages 1-15.
    5. Garrett R. Wood, 2019. "Crowdfunding defense," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 180(3), pages 451-467, September.
    6. Bruce L. Benson, 2020. "The development and evolution of predatory-state institutions and organizations: beliefs, violence, conquest, coercion, and rent seeking," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 303-329, March.
    7. Duncan Thomas K. & Coyne Christopher J., 2015. "The Revolving Door and the Entrenchment of the Permanent War Economy," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(3), pages 391-413, August.
    8. Robert A. Lawson & J. R. Clark, 2019. "Taxation in the Liberal Tradition," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 131-137, June.
    9. Marcus Matthias Keupp, 2021. "Introduction: The Fundamental Economic Problem of the Military," Springer Books, in: Defense Economics, chapter 0, pages 1-21, Springer.
    10. Christopher J. Coyne & Courtney Michaluk & Rachel Reese, 2016. "Unproductive entrepreneurship in US military contracting," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(2), pages 221-239, August.
    11. Ryan Safner, 2021. "“Public Good” or “Good for the Public?” Political Entrepreneurship and the Public Funding of Scientific Research," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 36(Spring 20), pages 17-44.
    12. Garrett Ryan Wood, 2022. "The organization of volunteer battalions in Ukraine," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 115-134, June.
    13. Peter Boettke, 2018. "Economics and Public Administration," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(4), pages 938-959, April.
    14. Christopher J. Coyne & Abigail R. Hall, 2019. "State-Provided Defense as Noncomprehensive Planning," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 34(Spring 20), pages 75-85.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Coyne,Christopher J., 2020. "Defense, Peace, and War Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108724036.
    2. Anderton,Charles H. & Carter,John R., 2009. "Principles of Conflict Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521875578, December.
    3. Christopher J. Coyne & Courtney Michaluk & Rachel Reese, 2016. "Unproductive entrepreneurship in US military contracting," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(2), pages 221-239, August.
    4. Duncan Thomas K. & Coyne Christopher J., 2015. "The Revolving Door and the Entrenchment of the Permanent War Economy," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(3), pages 391-413, August.
    5. Hall Abigail R., 2015. "Drones: Public Interest, Public Choice, and the Expansion of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(2), pages 273-300, April.
    6. Hou Na & Chen Bo, 2014. "Military Spending and Economic Growth in An Augmented Solow Model: A Panel Data Investigation for OECD Countries," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(3), pages 1-15, August.
    7. J. Paul Dunne & Ron P. Smith, 2020. "Military Expenditure, Investment and Growth," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 601-614, August.
    8. Christopher Coyne & Abigail Hall, 2014. "The Case Against a U.S.-Arms Monopoly," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 42(2), pages 181-190, June.
    9. Giorgio d’Agostino & John Paul Dunne & Luca Pieroni, 2019. "Military Expenditure, Endogeneity and Economic Growth," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(5), pages 509-524, July.
    10. Giorgio d’Agostino & J. Paul Dunne & Luca Pieroni, 2017. "Does Military Spending Matter for Long-run Growth?," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(4), pages 429-436, July.
    11. Bernhard Klingen, 2011. "A Public Choice Perspective on Defense and Alliance Policy," Chapters, in: Christopher J. Coyne & Rachel L. Mathers (ed.), The Handbook on the Political Economy of War, chapter 17, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Bruno S. Frey & Simon Luechinger, 2005. "Measuring terrorism," Chapters, in: Alain Marciano & Jean-Michel Josselin (ed.), Law and the State, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Liming Zhao & Liang Zhao & Bing-Fu Chen, 2017. "The interrelationship between defence spending, public expenditures and economic growth: evidence from China," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 703-718, November.
    14. Mehrdad Vahabi, 2012. "Avant-Propos," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 122(2), pages 135-151.
    15. Abdulnasser Hatemi-J & Tsangyao Chang & Wen-Yi Chen & Feng-Li Lin & Rangan Gupta, 2015. "Asymmetric Granger Causality between Military Expenditures and Economic Growth in Top Six Defense Suppliers," Working Papers 201565, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    16. J. Paul Dunne & Christine S. Makanza, 2019. "Nonlinear Effects of Military Spending on Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa," School of Economics Macroeconomic Discussion Paper Series 2019-04, School of Economics, University of Cape Town.
    17. Stefan Markowski & Satish Chand & Robert Wylie, 2017. "Conducting Comparative Research into Defence Capability Formation," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 4(6), pages 91-106, November.
    18. d'Agostino, G. & Dunne, J.P. & Pieroni, L., 2016. "Corruption and growth in Africa," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 71-88.
    19. Innocent.U. Duru & Millicent Adanne Eze & Bartholomew.O.N. Okafor & Abubakar Yusuf & Lawrence.O. Ede & Abubakar Sadiq Saleh, 2021. "Military Outlay and Economic Growth: The Scenarios of Lake Chad Basin Countries of the Republic of Chad and Nigeria," Growth, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 8(1), pages 12-26.
    20. Nusrate Aziz & M. Niaz Asadullah, 2017. "Military spending, armed conflict and economic growth in developing countries in the post-Cold War era," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(1), pages 47-68, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Defense brain; Individualistic view; Military-industrial complex; National defense; Organismic view; Public bad; Public good; B25; H10; H40; H56;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B25 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian; Stockholm School
    • H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:revaec:v:28:y:2015:i:4:p:371-396. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.