[Peace-discuss] The Cost of The War

[Lisa Chason]

The Cost of The War


By Pascal  <http://www.tpmcafe.com/author/pascalriche> Riche | bio
<http://www.tpmcafe.com/contributors/main#pascalriche> 

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2006/1/5/11510/30624
<http://www.tpmcafe.com/section/foreign> 

Nobel Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard budget expert Linda Bilmes
plan to present this week a paper  estimating the cost of the Iraq War at
between $1-2 trillion. This is far higher than earlier estimates of $100-200
billion. 

Here is their statement: 


Jan 05, 2006 -- 11:05:10 AM EST

NEW STUDY SUGGESTS ECONOMIC COST OF IRAQ WAR MUCH LARGER THAN PREVIOUSLY
RECOGNIZED

 

A new study by two leading academic experts suggests that the costs of the
Iraq war will be substantially higher than previously reckoned. In a paper
presented to this week's Allied Social Sciences Association annual meeting
in Boston MA., Harvard budget expert Linda Bilmes and Columbia University
Professor and Nobel Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz calculate that the war is
likely to cost the United States a minimum of nearly one trillion dollars
and potentially over $2 trillion.

 

The study expands on traditional budgetary estimates by including costs such
as lifetime disability and health care for the over16,000 injured, one fifth
of whom have serious brain or spinal injuries. It then goes on to analyze
the costs to the economy, including the economic value of lives lost and the
impact of factors such as higher oil prices that can be partly attributed to
the conflict in Iraq. The paper also calculates the impact on the economy if
a proportion of the money spent on the Iraq war were spent in other ways,
including on investments in the United States

 

"Shortly before the war, when Administration economist Larry Lindsey
suggested that the costs might range between $100 and $200 billion,
Administration spokesmen quickly distanced themselves from those numbers,"
points out Professor Stiglitz. "But in retrospect, it appears that Lindsey's
numbers represented a gross underestimate of the actual costs."  

 

The Allied Social Sciences Association meeting is attended by the nation's
leading economists and social scientists. It is sponsored jointly by the
American Economic Association and the Economists for Peace and Security.

 

 

"Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to
pass in the heart of America." : Dwight David Eisenhower  (American 34th
President (1953-61). 1890-1969)

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