Commentary
Americans are divided about U.S. assistance to Ukraine. A legitimate concern for everyone, regardless of what “side” of the issue they’re on, is the long-term ramifications of alternative courses of military action or inaction.
As an economist, I’m well aware of how impossible it is to predict the future with any degree of precision. Foretelling the outcome of a war, and especially its long-term effects, is even more problematic, because war, with its horrific destruction of lives and property, alters the economic landscape more profoundly and more rapidly than any set of economic policies can.
Let’s take a look at the two 20th-century world wars and see if we can draw any lessons that could inform our military policy today….