Opportunity Costs of Defence: A Comment on Dabelko and McCormick
- 1 December 1984
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Peace Research
- Vol. 21 (4) , 389-394
- https://doi.org/10.1177/002234338402100406
Abstract
A critical appraisal is made of an article in this journal by Dabelko and McCormick. In the article, the authors try to estimate the opportunity cost of defence. With simple tools from economic analysis it is shown that their methodological approach reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of this important and useful concept. In the final section, some difficulties encountered when attempting a correct empirical analysis of opportunity costs are briefly discussed, and some of the important factors to consider are pointed out.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Comparative Perspectives on Militarization, Repression and Social WelfareJournal of Peace Research, 1983
- The Opportunity Costs of Acting as a Super Power: U.S. Military Strategy in the 1980sJournal of Peace Research, 1981
- Opportunity Costs of Defense: Some Cross-National EvidenceJournal of Peace Research, 1977
- Discussions and Reviews : The costs of powerJournal of Conflict Resolution, 1971