Assessing the Economic Value of Military Materiel - American Affairs Journal

The war in Ukraine has exposed some serious misperceptions about the relative economic size and military power of major nations. Before the war, it was fashionable to say—usually sardonically—that Russia possessed an economy similar in size to that of Italy or smaller than that of Texas. “The Russian economy will be cut in half,” President…

Spring 2023 / Volume VII, Number 1 T he war in Ukraine has exposed some serious misperceptions about the relative economic size and military power of major nations. Before the war, it was fashionable to say—usually sardonically—that Russia possessed an economy similar in size to that of Italy or smaller than that of Texas. “The Russian economy will be cut in half,” President Biden tweeted on March 26, 2022, “It was ranked the 11th biggest economy in the world before this invasion—and soon, it will not even rank among the top 20.” 1 The statistics that the president used for this comparison wer

related reading

• The Value of Nothing: Capital versus Growth - American Affairs Journalamericanaffairsjournal.org
• On Vulgar Materialismborretti.me
• No Way Out but Warchrishedges.substack.com
• How the Russian economy self-immolated in the year since Putin invaded Ukraine | Fortunefortune.com
• The Defense Reformation18theses.com
• Should the U.S. increase or decrease defense spending?noahpinion.substack.com
• The AI Industrial Explosion — Part 1: Maximum growth rates with current production methodsdefensesindepth.bio
• The Economy Is Stupid - by J. Daniel Sawyerjdanielsawyer.substack.com
• Economic Indicators of Chinese Military Action against Taiwancsis.org
• Shipyards, Graveyardsarenamag.com
• The Nvidia-sized hole in US GDP statisticsepoch.ai
• Defense Tech Shouldn’t Be Sexyevery.to