TY  - JOUR
A1  - Paganelli, Maria Pia
A1  - Schumacher, Reinhard
T1  - Do not take peace for granted
BT  - Adam Smith’s warning on the relation between commerce and war
JF  - Cambridge journal of economics
N2  - Is trade a promoter of peace? Adam Smith, one of the earliest defenders of trade, worries that commerce may instigate some perverse incentives, encouraging wars. The wealth that commerce generates decreases the relative cost of wars, increases the ability to finance wars through debts, which decreases their perceived cost, and increases the willingness of commercial interests to use wars to extend their markets, increasing the number and prolonging the length of wars. Smith, therefore, cannot assume that trade would yield a peaceful world. While defending and promoting trade, Smith warns us not to take peace for granted.
KW  - Commercial peace
KW  - Adam Smith
KW  - Doux commerce
KW  - Perceived cost versus actual cost of war
KW  - Special interests
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/bey040
SN  - 0309-166X
SN  - 1464-3545
VL  - 43
IS  - 3
SP  - 785
EP  - 797
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  -