U.S. War Costs: Two Parts Temporary, One Part Permanent

Ryan Edwards ()

No 16108, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Military spending, fatalities, and the destruction of capital, all of which are immediately felt and are often large, are the most overt costs of war. They are also relatively short-lived. The costs of war borne by combatants and their caretakers, which includes families, communities, and the modern welfare state, tend instead to be lifelong. In this paper I show that a significant component of the public costs associated with U.S. wars are long-lived. One third to one half of the total present value of historical war costs have been absorbed by benefits distributed over the remaining life spans of veterans and their dependents. The half-life of these benefits has averaged more than 30 years following the end of hostilities. Estimates of the value of injuries and deaths, while uncertain, suggest that the private burden of war borne by survivors, namely the uncompensated costs of service-related injuries, are also large and long-lived.

JEL-codes: H56 H68 J17 N41 N42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
Note: DAE EFG PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published as Edwards, Ryan D. (2014) "U.S. War Costs: Two Parts Temporary, One Part Permanent," Journal of Public Economics 113: 54-66.

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Journal Article: U.S. war costs: Two parts temporary, one part permanent (2014)
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