Lobotomizing the defense brain

Christopher Coyne

The Review of Austrian Economics, 2015, vol. 28, issue 4, 396 pages

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

Keywords: Defense brain; Individualistic view; Military-industrial complex; National defense; Organismic view; Public bad; Public good; B25; H10; H40; H56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11138-015-0316-x

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