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World war. History suggests that the massive devastation and annihilation of labor resulting from a multi-continental war is extremely economically stimulating
by fixermark 10y ago
World war.
History suggests that the massive devastation and annihilation of labor resulting from a multi-continental war is extremely economically stimulating to the survivors. So many opportunities for jobs rebuilding and restoring the things and people that were destroyed!
(I am, of course, being sarcastic, but it's useful in these contemplations sometimes to consider the stakes by putting a null hypothesis of sorts on the table).
- atemerev 10y agoI don't see any sarcasm here. Two previous macroeconomic transitions (industrial revolution, post-industrial white collar economy) were indeed resolved by world wars. I considered this scenario extremely likely to be repeated.
- AstralStorm 10y agoSee, the main difference is the scale of the destruction. WW2 exactly ended because it escalated to really horrendous levels. (If the Japanese or Germans got the nuke first, we'd be in a very different world now.)
- atemerev 10y agoThat's fine. WWI culminated in development of chemical weapons. They were used in wartime, assessed, and stockpiled. But everybody was scared of ever using them again. Chemical weapons were not used in WWII. The same thing happened with nuclear weapons in WWII. They were used, evaluated, and then stockpiled. But everybody was scared of ever using them again, and they weren't. Nuclear weapons most probably will not be used in WWIII.