Public Choice (2010) 145: 329–330 DOI 10.1007/s11127-010-9667-9 BOOK REVIEW

Charles H. Anderton, John R. Carter: Principles of conflict economics: a primer for social scientists Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. xxi + 321 pages. USD 90.00 (cloth), 34.99 (paper) Yvon Rocaboy

Published online: 24 June 2010 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010

Principles of Conflict Economics is a book which presents several interesting qualities for readers who are not specialists in the field of defense or peace economics. First, each of the twelve chapters deals with a well-focused topic. Each chapter is roughly organized in the same way. The topic of the chapter is carefully defined and the main problems are exposed. An economic analysis of the situation is provided and, most of the time, the analysis is beautifully illustrated with stories relying on historical facts. At the end of each chapter there is a bibliographic note which gives the reader the possibility to explore the field in more depth. Second, the economic analysis always relies on a rigorous methodology but does not present major technical difficulties even if a basic knowledge in microeconomics and game theory may be useful, especially for the last three chapters. Chapter 1, the introduction, describes the specificity of Conflict Economics. First, the authors ascertain that conflict activities may be explained by using the concepts, principles and methods of economics in the same way as traditional economic activities. In that sense the book is in the pure tradition of Becker. Second and more importantly, traditional economic analyses assume that social and economic behaviors are peaceful. This is no longer the case with conflict and conflict resolution where appropriation, which means taking by force or the threat of force, is considered as fundamental economic activity. This second characteristic makes the authors say that conflict economics “involves a gradual reconstruction of the core of economic theory to take account of conflict”. This point is carefully explored in the last chapter of the book. Chapters 2 through 4 survey most of the economic concepts which are used subsequently to analyze specific conflict issues. Basic microeconomic tools like the utility function, the production function, the market equilibrium, and the economic surplus are presented in these chapters as well as fundamentals of game theory. The presentation of these concepts is not of a great independent interest. The real originality of this didactic part of the book lies in illustrations made from the application of these concepts to conflict issues. For instance in Y. Rocaboy () Faculty of Economics, University of Rennes 1, 7 Place Hoche, 35065 Rennes Cedex, France e-mail: [email protected]

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Public Choice (2010) 145: 329–330

Chap. 3 there is a discussion of the consequences of the Antipersonnel Mine-Ban Treaty enacted in 1999 on non-signatories (also known as the Ottawa Convention). The authors assume that the protection of a territory is the result of two military inputs which are here considered as substitutable production factors: land mines and young males armed with assault rifles. By reducing the supply of land mines, a major consequence of the treaty’s enactment will be a rise in the price of land mines to non-signatory countries. The relative price of land mines will then be higher yielding a change in the demand for both production factors which depends on the factor substitutability. The signature of the treaty will then have an impact not only on the signatory countries but also on the non-signatory ones. The same kind of simple microeconomic analysis is conducted throughout these three chapters. Chapter 5 and the following chapters deal more specifically with conflict issues. According to the authors, Chap. 5, by putting forward Hirshleifer’s bargaining model, corresponds to a transition from traditional economics to conflict economics. Contrary to the previous chapters, violence is here a potential alternative which may be used, for instance, as a result of inefficient bargaining processes as in the case of commitment problems. In this chapter Anderton and Carter follow Shelling’s statement that studying “the strategy of conflict is to take the view that most conflict situations are essentially bargaining situations”. Chapters 6 through 11, always using the same economic methodology, provide analyses on historical and contemporary conflict topics. Conflict between States, civil war and genocide, terrorism, the geography and technology of conflict, arms proliferation and military alliances are the main subjects which are analyzed in these chapters. It seems to me that most of the important issues of the field are investigated here. However, for some topics, I would have liked to read more developed analyses. For instance in Chap. 11 dealing with Military alliances, the discussion about the aggregation of contributions to the military strength of the alliance is rather short. In particular, nothing is said about the best-shot rule and the weakest link rule. However these concepts may be useful to understand, for instance, the evolution of NATO member contributions to the alliance’s budget. Finally Chap. 12 introduces the possibility of appropriation in an Edgeworth box model of production and trade. The authors suggest that the possibility of appropriation is part of the relationship which exists among countries and that it must be taken into account when dealing with economic activity. According to Anderton and Carter, “the textbook model of peaceful activity is but a special case of a more general model wherein appropriation possibilities both shape and are shaped by the traditional economic activities of production and trade”. This idea is very interesting and the way it is exposed is convincing. In summary Principle of Conflict Economics is a most valuable textbook. It provides a nice synthesis of a growing theoretical and empirical literature which is of high importance for a better understanding of the international relationships in a broad sense. Reading the book made me think that Conflict Economics could be a self-contained course alongside standard courses like Public Economics, Public Choice or Industrial Economics. The huge amount of money spent nowadays on military activities worldwide makes this kind of teaching valuable to all citizens. I suspect that readers of this journal will find that the public choice dimension of conflicts is missing. This dimension has not being investigated at all in the book. However, decisions about entering into or abstaining from conflict may be partly driven by electoral reasons.