Citation

Edwards RD. J. Public Econ. 2014; 113: 54-66.

Affiliation

Economics Department, Queens College, City University of New York, Powdermaker 300, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, NY 11367, USA ; National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.03.008

PMID

25221367

PMCID

PMC4160126

Abstract

Military spending, fatalities, and the destruction of capital, all of which are immediately felt and are often large, are the most overt costs of war. They are also relatively short-lived. But the costs of war borne by combatants and their caretakers, which includes families, communities, and the modern welfare state, tend instead to be lifelong. In this paper I show that a significant component of the budgetary costs associated with U.S. wars is long-lived. One third to one half of the total present value of historical war costs are benefits distributed over the remaining life spans of veterans and their dependents. Even thirty years after the end of hostilities, typically half of all benefits remain to be paid. Estimates of the costs of injuries and deaths suggest that the private burden of war borne by survivors, namely the uncompensated costs of service-related injuries, are also large and long-lived.

Language: en