Peace economics

Peace economics is a branch of conflict economics[1] and focuses on the design of the sociosphere's political, economic, and cultural institutions and their interacting policies and actions with the goal of preventing, mitigating, or resolving violent conflict within and between societies. This violent conflict could be of any type and could involve either latent or actual violence.[2] Recognizing the cost of violence, peace economics focuses on the benefits of (re)constructing societies[3][4][5][6] with a view toward achieving irreversible, stable peace.[7] Along with approaches drawn from other areas of scholarship, peace economics forms part of peace science, an evolving part of peace and conflict studies.[8]

Despite overlaps, peace economics is distinct from war, military, defense, and security economics,[1] all of which are branches of conflict economics. A key difference between peace economics and these related fields is that peace economics emphasizes the study of the presence of or conditions for peace, as distinct from studying the absence or presence of conflict, violence, war, or insecurity.

History of economic theories of peace

Peace economics has also been defined as "the use of economics to understand the causes and effects of violent conflict in the international system and the ways that conflict can be avoided, managed, or resolved."[9] This restricts the subject matter to the international realm and leaves out the study of peace itself. Walter Isard defines peace economics as "generally concerned with: (1) resolution, management or reduction of conflict in the economic sphere, or among behaving units in their economic activity; (2) the use of economic measures and policy to cope with and control conflicts whether economic or not; and (3) the impact of conflict on the economic behavior and welfare of firms, consumers organizations, government and society."[10] The notion of violence is absent and peace itself is not studied, but the level of analysis can be other than conflict between states. In a context restricted to international trade, another author writes that "Peace economics studies ways to eradicate and control conflict as well as to assess conflict's impact on society."[11] The notion of violence is not explicit and the benefits of peace are seen only inasmuch as a reduction of conflict may improve opportunities for expanded global trade. Others make a distinction between "productive" and "unproductive" or "appropriative" economic activities their starting point of analysis in peace economics.[12][13][14][15]

Economics Nobelist Jan Tinbergen defines peace economics as "economic science used for [a purpose that] prohibits [war] as an instrument of settling conflicts between nations and [to organize] the world in a way that warfare is punished".[16] Violence is addressed only at the level of sovereigns, not dealing with civil war or debilitating organized or individual-level criminal violence. In related work, Tinbergen writes about a world order that would inhibit violence and permit peace between and among states. In his view, this requires a "world government",[17][18] a sentiment not now commonly agreed among economists.

  1. ^ a b Silwal, Shikha B., Charles H. Anderton, Jurgen Brauer, Christopher J. Coyne, and J. Paul Dunne. (2021). The Economics of Conflict and Peace: History and Applications. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  2. ^ Brauer, Jurgen and Raul Caruso. (2012). "Economists and Peacebuilding." In Roger MacGintry (ed.), Handbook on Peacebuilding. London: Routledge.
  3. ^ Keynes, John M. (1920). The Economic Consequences of the Peace. London: Macmillan.
  4. ^ Boulding, Kenneth E. (1945). The Economics of Peace. New York: Prentice-Hall.
  5. ^ Del Castillo, Graciana. (2008). Rebuilding War-Torn States: The Challenge of Post-Conflict Economic Reconstruction. New York: Oxford University Press.
  6. ^ Brauer, Jurgen and J. Paul Dunne. (2012). Peace Economics: A Macroeconomic Primer for Violence-Afflicted States. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press.
  7. ^ Boulding, Kenneth E. (1978). Stable Peace. Austin, TX: The University of Texas Press.
  8. ^ Isard, Walter. (1992). Understanding Conflict and the Science of Peace. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
  9. ^ Anderton, Charles H. and John R. Carter. (2007). "A Survey of Peace Economics," pp. 1211-1258 in Todd Sandler and Keith Hartley, eds., Handbook of Defense Economics. Vol. 2. Amsterdam: Elsevier. The quote is from p. 1212.
  10. ^ Isard, Walter. (1994). "Peace Economics: A Topical Perspective." Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy. Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 11-13. The quote is from p. 11. [A slightly revised reprint of Walter Isard, "Peace Economics" in Douglas Greenwald, Editor in Chief, The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Economics. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994, pp. 767-769.]
  11. ^ Polachek, Solomon W. (1994). "Peace Economics: A Trade Theory Perspective." Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy. Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.14-17. The quote is from p. 14.
  12. ^ Haavelmo, Trygve. (1954). A Study in the Theory of Economic Evolution. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
  13. ^ Dumas, Lloyd J. (1986). The Overburdened Economy: Uncovering the Causes of Chronic Unemployment, Inflation, and National Decline. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
  14. ^ Baumol, William J. (1990). "Entrepreneurship: Productive, Unproductive, and Destructive." The Journal of Political Economy. Vol. 98, No. 5, Part 1 (October), pp. 893-921.
  15. ^ Caruso, Raul. (2010). "On the Nature of Peace Economics." Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy. Vol. 16, No. 2, Article 2.
  16. ^ Tinbergen Jan. (1994). "What is Peace Economics?" Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy. Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 3-5. The quote is from p. 3.
  17. ^ Tinbergen Jan. (1994). "What is Peace Economics?" Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy. Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 3-5. The quote is from p. 3 as well.
  18. ^ Also see Tinbergen, Jan and Dietrich Fischer (1987). Warfare and Welfare: Integrating Security Policy into Socio-Economic Policy. New York: St. Martin's Press, and Tinbergen Jan. (1990). World Security and Equity. Aldershot, UK: Elgar.