Disarmament: A century of economic thought

This article delineates the history of how disarmament became a concept in economic thought and reviews the relevant writings of economists such as Veblen, Wicksell, Pareto, Schumpeter, Hilferding, Luxemburg, Lenin, Bukharin, Sombart, Keynes, Pigou, and Robbins, and of selected classical precursors (e.g., Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, List, Marx/Engels) as well as post-World War II writers (e.g., Richardson, Boulding, Hirshleifer). Particular attention is paid to how the "markets-as-peace" versus "capitalism-as-war" dichotomy developed, a dichotomy reflected in the contemporary debate on the relative merits or demerits of "globalization".     

Adam smith: A defence economist

For Smith, “defence” is presented as one of the three big areas requiring the “expenses of the sovereign or Commonwealth”, and therefore justifying state intervention in the economy, beside “justice” and “public works and public institutions”. Against the mercantilist thought, Smith considers that the process of liberalization is a condition of disarmament and peace. It supposes mainly the decolonization, the reduction of defence burden, the eradication of slavery, the denunciation of the mercantilist policy, and the international respect of free trade. Development is both a consequence of liberalization and the main cause of peace.