The Costs of War

This brief article focuses on a comprehensive idea on the likely "costs of the war". The first cost to be considered at macro level is the loss of cooperation between states. In other words wars are often expected to undermine trust and "rules of the game' between sovereign states. Secondly, a widespread economic sluggishness can be predicted. Third, in the long-run a higher economic inequality is to be expected because of the deterioration of human capital. In general, the war also induces some re-balancing between productive and unproductive activities. A growing unproductive burden in the economy (in particular military expenditures) constitues a clear-cut cost which turns to be detrimental for whole society in spite of some private gains.