Economy in War

The purpose of this blog is to focus on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in relation to the upcoming presidential election. The economy has taken over as the No. 1 issue during this election season, but do the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East affect the U.S. economy? Before the United States went to war, many economists and others predicted that America would have to bear the bulk of the financial costs of the war and reconstruction. This has proved to be true, but are there broader ramifications to the U.S. economy? This study by the Council on Foreign Relations takes a look at how the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have affected the U.S. economy, for better or worse. It quantifies the cost of the wars in terms of dollars and analyzes how an increased DOD budget plays into the current situation of the U.S. economy. Read the Study