No, war doesn't boost economic growth

The evidence suggests you should give peace a chance

War
(Image credit: (GraphicaArtis/Corbis))

Tyler Cowen argues in The New York Times that "the lack of major wars" is hurting economic growth:

The world just hasn’t had that much warfare lately, at least not by historical standards. Some of the recent headlines about Iraq or South Sudan make our world sound like a very bloody place, but today’s casualties pale in light of the tens of millions of people killed in the two world wars in the first half of the 20th century. Even the Vietnam War had many more deaths than any recent war involving an affluent country.

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John Aziz is the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also an associate editor at Pieria.co.uk. Previously his work has appeared on Business Insider, Zero Hedge, and Noahpinion.