Economists and war : a heterodox perspective / edited by Fabrizio Bientinesi and Rosario Patalano.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Fabrizio Bientinesi and Rosario Patalano -- 1. An 'Austrian' point of view on total war: Stefan T. Possony / Fabrizio Bientinesi -- 2. The evolution of the economic thought confronted with World War I and the reparations' issue / Fanny Coulomb -- 3. Third way, liberalism and the crisis of civilization: Wilhelm Röpke facing the Second World War / Alberto Giordano -- 4. From pacifism to political realism: the economics and sociology of war in Vilfredo Pareto / Terenzio Maccabelli -- 5. The economics of peace in the history of political economy / Fabio Masini -- 6. Italian economic analyses of the First World War: 'historical materialism' versus 'pure economics' / Luca Michelini -- 7. Changes in the pacifism of Akamatsu Kaname from the interwar period to WWII / Tadashi Ohtsuki -- 8. War in Sismondi's interpretation of modern capitalism: fresh analytical perspectives / Letizia Pagliai -- 9. How to pay for the war: military spending and war funding in Italian economic thought (1890-1918) / Rosario Patalano -- 10. Productive powers and war in Friedrich List's theory of economic development / Stefano Spalletti -- 11. Keynes on the role of the 'insane and irrational springs of wickedness' in war / Ted Winslow -- Index.

War and economic power have been interwoven in the thought of scholars since the beginnings of economic science, and views on the role of war in the economy have shifted dramatically as the world order has changed. The centenary of World War I has offered the opportunity for increased reflection on this topic, particularly as the war itself stimulated new directions for both research and the development of theory. Economists and War brings together expert contributors who are united in their commitment to exploring this classic subject from innovative and heterodox points of view. The chapters presented in the book delve into a wide range of perspectives from Japan in the Second World War and Italy in the First; the debate on State intervention among German-speaking authors to the debate on the economic bases of perpetual peace; and from Keynes, who wrote on the 'irrationality of war', to Sismondi, who saw war as an opportunity for economic development, and not only for nation-states.