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Military Conscription

An Economic Analysis of the Labour Component in the Armed Forces

  • Book
  • © 1999

Overview

Authors:
  1. Simon Duindam

    1. Open University of the Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands

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Part of the book series: Contributions to Economics (CE)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-VII
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  2. Economics and Conscription

    • Simon Duindam
    Pages 1-16

  3. The public good “Defense”

    • Simon Duindam
    Pages 17-34

  4. The history and existence of conscription in the Netherlands

    • Simon Duindam
    Pages 35-46

  5. The conscription tax

    • Simon Duindam
    Pages 47-60

  6. Conscription and the allocation of production factors

    • Simon Duindam
    Pages 61-78

  7. The demand for and the supply of volunteers

    • Simon Duindam
    Pages 79-128

  8. The interaction between society and the armed forces

    • Simon Duindam
    Pages 129-153

  9. The transformation of a conscription force into an all-volunteer force

    • Simon Duindam
    Pages 155-175

  10. Social conscription

    • Simon Duindam
    Pages 177-190

  11. Summary

    • Simon Duindam
    Pages 191-195

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 197-203
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Keywords

About this book

In this book, entitled "Military Conscription: an economic analysis of the labour component in the armed forces", military conscription is regarded as an eco­ nomic policy to minimize the cost of labour in the armed forces. The economic cost of conscription becomes clear when we analyse the opportunity costs of conscription. If conscripts were free to choose whether to join the armed forces, many would not under the present day conditions, since for them the costs of conscription far outweighs the benefits. The principle of opportunity costs is always central in the economics of warfare. In this book the analysis begins with an investigation of these oppor­ tunity costs and then uses the results to analyse the formation of an all-volunteer force, which will in fact be achieved, if everything proceeds according to schedule, by 1998. Chapter one concentrates on the structure of the thesis. One of the cor­ nerstones is welfare economics. Welfare economics uses a mechanical view of the state. Translated to military conscription this means that the welfare of the conscript is a central point in the analysis of the economic aspects of military conscription. Also important is the fact that the concept of welfare concentrates on scarcity. Due to conscription the aspects of scarcity of labour in the armed forces are very weak, if not absent.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Open University of the Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands

    Simon Duindam

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Military Conscription

  • Book Subtitle: An Economic Analysis of the Labour Component in the Armed Forces

  • Authors: Simon Duindam

  • Series Title: Contributions to Economics

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-50005-3

  • Publisher: Physica Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1999

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-7908-1203-9Published: 21 May 1999

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-50005-3Published: 17 April 2013

  • Series ISSN: 1431-1933

  • Series E-ISSN: 2197-7178

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VII, 203

  • Number of Illustrations: 7 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Public Economics

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