Some Basic Economics of National Security

Kevin M. Murphy and Robert H. Topel

No 252, Working Papers from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State

Abstract: National security economics is a nascent field in our discipline. We define national security (NS) as the set of public policies that protect the safety or welfare of a nation's citizens from substantial threats. While NS policies are typically thought of in terms of military assets, our definition includes the development and deployment of any public good that would mitigate catastrophic outcomes for a large segment of the population. Thus we include certain investments in public health, safeguarding supplies of certain natural resources, as well as environmental and climate policies designed to mitigate possibly catastrophic future outcomes. Our main focus is on the common structure of these problems, and in particular on the value and form of NS investments. We reach several substantive conclusions. (...)

Date: 2013
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