Both are bad and when some crisis happen, some endogenous (economy devastated by few profiteers, for instance), some exogenous (like depletion of natural resour

Both are bad and when some crisis happen, some endogenous (economy devastated by few profiteers, for instance), some exogenous (like depletion of natural resources) they are the most classic response to save ruling class in position and sometimes in skin, but at least a small scale war provoke small scale damage for humanity at a whole, people who can/who anticipate the war can flee on time etc, to a certain extent they might even be a means of evolutionary selection of humanity. Large wars consume and pollute too much, with nukes that means potentially species-killing destruction etc Even more dangerous things happen when the war is not a ruling class means to survive BUT just a business or mostly a business, that's why IMVHO private A/N&D companies should just exists for small weapons for civilians and nothing more. The rest should be a State-only production always kept but so expensive that a war is chosen only as extrema ratio. Private companies can only participate aside like providing steel etc to the State, BUT that at a fixed and low price high enough to avoid making companies failing but low enough that's not a profit even in a deep bear market case.