Principles of Conflict Economics The Political Economy of War, Terrorism, Genocide, and Peace

Conflict economics contributes to an understanding of violent conflict and peace in two important ways. First, it applies economic concepts and models to help one understand diverse conflict activities such as war, terrorism, genocide, and peace. Second, it treats coercive appropriation as a fundamental economic activity, joining production and exchange as a means of wealth acquisition. In the second edition of their book Principles of Conflict Economics, Anderton and Carter provide comprehensive, up-to-date coverage of the key themes and principles of conflict economics. Along with new scholarship on well-established areas such as war, terrorism and alliances and under-researched areas including genocides, individual and family aspects of war, and conflict prevention, they apply new economic tools to the study of war and peace such as behavioral economics and economics of identity and offer deeper research and policy insights into how to reconstitute societies after large-scale violence.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Nature, scope, and interdependencies of conflict and economics; Part II. Key Concepts and Models for the Economic Analysis of Conflict and Peace: 2. Production possibilities and economic growth; 3. Demand and supply; 4. Rational choice theory; 5. Game theory; 6. Behavioral economics and the economics of identity; 7. Network economics; 8. Conflict success functions and the theory of appropriation possibilities; Part III. Economic Aspects of War, Terrorism, and Genocide: 9. Geography and technology of conflict; 10. Bargaining theory of war and peace; 11. Conflict between states; 12. Civil wars; 13. Terrorism; 14. Genocides and other mass atrocities; Part IV. Security and Peace: 15. Arms rivalry, proliferation, and arms control; 16. Security alliances; 17. Peace.

This book provides comprehensive, up-to-date coverage of the key themes and principles of conflict economics, with new scholarship on well-established areas such as war, terrorism and alliances and under-researched areas including genocides, individual and family aspects of war, and conflict prevention.

Charles H. Anderton is Professor of Economics at the College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts and co-editor of Economic Aspects of Genocides, Other Mass Atrocities, and Their Prevention (2016). His research has appeared in journals such as Economic Inquiry, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, and the Journal of Genocide Research, as well as in the Handbook of Defense Economics, Volumes I and II.
John R. Carter is Professor Emeritus at the College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts. His research on conflict has appeared in numerous journals and books including Defence and Peace Economics, Economic Inquiry, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and the Handbook of Defense Economics, Volume II.