Peace economists and peace economics

We define peace economics as the economic study and design of political, economic, and cultural institutions, their interrelations, and their policies to prevent, mitigate, or resolve any type of latent or actual destructive conflict within and between societies. Differentiating peace economics from defense/military economics, conflict economics, and security economics, we assert that while founded on positive precepts, peace economics is distinct for its normative character. We place peace economics within a larger framework of positive peace and social system sustainability and briefly discuss some challenges.peace; peace economics; normative; positive peace; social system sustainability

A Paz Regional Como um Bem Público Internacional: a Acção Colectiva na África Austral

Esta comunicação aborda temas já desenvolvidos anteriormente em Brauer e Roux (1998). Esse trabalho (a) desenvolvia uma taxonomia dos bens privados e públicos, nacionais e internacionais, recursos comuns e bens de clubes, (b) questionava a forma como, isto é, através de que tecnologia os bens públicos internacionais, tal como a paz, são produzidos, e (c) analisava os princípios de concepção das instituições que são responsáveis por essa produção. A comunicação agora apresentada analisa o papel relativamente negligenciado das instituições e dos seus desígnios nos processos de construção da paz. Por conseguinte, são apresentadas algumas propostas institucionais específicas no que respeita à manutenção da paz na África Austral

Arms Trade Offsets and Development

Offsets, arrangements that obligate the arms seller to reinvest (“offset”) arms sales proceeds in the purchasing country, are an increasingly important facet of the international trade in arms. They are used to justify spending on imports by promises that there will be significant benefits to the economy, through the promotion and development of local industry, technology and employment. Until recently, however, there has been little research on how well offsets work in practice. This paper is a ‘state-of-the-art’ review of our empirical knowledge regarding arms trade offsets. We find virtually no case where offset arrangements have yielded unambiguous net benefits for a country’s economic development. As a general rule arms trade offset deals are more costly than ‘off-the-shelf’ arms purchases, create little by way of new or sustainable employment, do not appear to contribute in any substantive way to general economic development, and with very few exceptions do not result in significant technology transfers, not even within the military sector.

On the Cost of Violence and the Benefits of Peace

Wars can be immensely damaging to economies, and they can leave long-lasting scars on society. What are considered to be postwar or postviolence situations can see ongoing nonwar political, domestic, and criminal violence, with war economies not ending with the formal cessation of hostilities. Unarmed violence can have important effects and even forms of nonviolent conflict can carry substantial, measurable economic consequences. Surprisingly little substantive economics work on the subject is done particularly work that would deal with the possible paths countries can take from crises and there seems to exist an unfortunate lack of understanding among economists of the complexities of war and violence and its impact on economy and society, leaving a sometimes unrecognized legacy of violence and loss. This essay deals with some of the issues involved.Macroeconomics; violence; costs and benefits; peace; conflict-affected states

Arms Trade Offsets: What Do We Know?

This chapter is a review of our empirical knowledge regarding arms trade offsets. Extant evidence suggests that offset arrangements do not yield net benefits for a country’s economic development. As a general rule arms trade offset deals are more costly than off-the-shelf arms purchases, create little by way of new or sustainable employment, do not appear to contribute in any substantive way to general economic development, and with very few exceptions do not result in significant technology transfers, not even within the military sector. As of 2009, the United States and the European Union have taken official government positions against offset deals. Nonetheless, arms trade offsets are a flourishing practice.Arms Offsets; defence; arms trade

Macroeconomics and Violence

This chapter considers macroeconomic aspects of violence. It moves beyond the usual focus on war to argue the economic importance of all forms and aspects of armed and unarmed violence. Violence refers to acts of self-harm, interpersonal violence, and collective violence. Self-harm includes suicide; interpersonal violence includes organized criminal violence as well as domestic and workplace violence. Collective violence generally denotes political entities that are in, or at risk of, internal or external violent conflict as well as those that are in an insecure postwar predicament or wracked by pervasive armed criminal violence. In the past these different aspects of violence have been studied by different academic disciplines, with political scientists and defense economists tending to study the causes, consequences, and, lately, potential remedies of large-scale collective violence; and criminologists, public health experts, and crime economists tending to study interpersonal violence and self harm. Recognizing the economic importance of all aspects of violence means that macroeconomic policy cannot be considered in isolation from microeconomic developments or from regional, sectoral, distributional, and other economic policies, nor from the social contexts in which violence takes place. The increasing complexity and interrelatedness of the various aspects of the economics of violence means that any discussion of the macroeconomic issues has to consider the cost of conflict and violence more broadly conceived. The chapter reviews violence, measures and measurements of the cost of violence, the economic causes and consequences of violence, some macroeconomic aspects of recovery from violence and postwar reconstruction, and some of the necessary framework conditions for recovery from violence.Keywords: Violence, macroeconomics, postconflict recovery, conflict-affected states

Mass Atrocities and their Prevention

Counting conservatively, and ignoring physical injuries and mental trauma, data show about 100 million mass atrocity-related deaths since 1900. Occurring in war and in peacetime, and of enormous scale, severity, and brutality, they are geographically widespread, occur with surprising frequency, and can be long-lasting in their adverse effects on economic and human development, wellbeing, and wealth. As such, they are a major economic concern. This article synthesizes very diverse and widely dispersed theoretical and empirical literatures, addressing two gaps: a “mass atrocities gap” in the economics literature and an “economics gap” in mass atrocities scholarship. Our goals are, first, for noneconomists to learn how economic inquiry contributes to understanding the causes and conduct of mass atrocities and possibly to their mitigation and prevention and, second, to survey and synthesize for economists a broad sweep of literatures to serve as a common platform on which to base further work in this field

Macroeconomía y violencia

RESUMEN:Este ensayo analiza los aspectos macroeconómicos de la violencia. Va mas allá del enfoque usual sobre la guerra para argumentar sobre la importancia económica de todas las formas y aspectos de violencia armada y no armada. La violencia hace referencia a actos de daño autoinflingido, violencia interpersonal y violencia colectiva. La violencia autoinflingida incluye suicidio; la violencia interpersonal incluye tanto violencia criminal organizada como violencia doméstica y en el lugar de trabajo, y la violencia colectiva generalmente hace referencia a estados u otro tipo de entidades políticas que se encuentran en conflicto violento interno o externo o en riesgo de padecerlo, así como a aquellas que se encuentran en una difícil situación de inseguridad de postguerra o han sido asoladas por una extensiva violencia criminal. Estos diversos aspectos de la violencia han sido estudiados en el pasado por diferentes disciplinas académicas, en un proceso en el cual la ciencia política y los economistas de la defensa se inclinan a estudiar las causas, consecuencias, y,recientemente, los remedios potenciales a la violencia colectiva de gran escala; y los criminólogos, expertos en salud pública y economistas del crimen más inclinados a estudiar la violencia interpersonal y el daño autoinfligido. Reconocer la importancia económica de todos los aspectos de la violencia significa que la política macroeconómica no puede ser considerada aisladamente de los desarrollos microeconómicos o de las políticas regionales, sectoriales, distributivas y de otro tipo, así como tampoco puede aislarse de los contextos sociales en los cuales ocurre la violencia. La creciente complejidad e interrelación de los diferentes aspectos de la economía de la violencia implican que cualquier discusiónde los aspectos macroeconómicos debe considerar una concepción más amplia del costo del conflicto y la violencia. Este ensayo analiza la violencia, medidas y mediciones del costo de la violencia, las causas y consecuencias económicas de la violencia, algunos aspectos macroeconómicos de la recuperación de la violencia y la reconstrucción postguerra, y algunas de las condiciones estructurales necesarias para la recuperación luego de la violencia.ABSTRACT:This essay considers macroeconomic aspects of violence. It moves beyond the usual focus on war to argue the economic importance of all forms and aspects of armed and unarmed violence. Violence refers to acts of selfharm,interpersonal violence, and collective violence. Self-harm includes suicide; interpersonal violence includes organized criminal violence as well as domestic and workplace violence. Collective violence generally denotes political entities that are in, or at risk of, internal or external violent conflict as well as those that are in an insecure postwar predicament or wracked by pervasive armed criminal violence. In the past these different aspects of violence have been studied by different academic disciplines, with political scientists and defense economists tending to study the causes, consequences, and, lately,potential remedies of large-scale collective violence; and criminologists, public health experts, and crime economists tending to study interpersonal violence and self harm. Recognizing the economic importance of all aspects of violence means that macroeconomic policy cannot be considered in isolation from microeconomic developments or from regional, sectoral, distributional, and other economic policies, nor from the social contexts in which violence takes place. The increasing complexity and interrelatedness of the various aspects of the economics of violence means that any discussion of the macroeconomic issues has to consider the cost of conflict and violence more broadly conceived. The essay reviews violence, measures and measurements of the cost of violence, the economic causes and consequences of violence, some macroeconomic aspects of recovery from violence and postwar reconstruction, and some of the necessaryframework conditions for recovery from violence.Violencia, macroeconomía, recuperación postconflicto, estados afectados por el conflicto.

A manual on macroeconomic fundamentals for conflict-affected states

Increasingly, peace agreements and economic development programs reference the centrality of sound economic policy and a stable macroeconomic framework in state-building efforts. But few practitioners have the background to know what this means and to understand the relationship between their areas of responsibility and the policies needed to attain macroeconomic stability. Even fewer feel able to contribute meaningfully to designing and implementing strategies to attain and maintain this fundamental end state. This manual aims to serves as an introductory guide to and reference document on macroeconomics. It is intended for noneconomists who may be involved in peace negotiations and would benefit from a clearer understanding of the underlying macroeconomic issues