We study escalation and aggression in an experimental first-strike game in which two participants play multiple rounds of a money-earning task. In each round, both players can spend money to accumulate weapons. The player with more weapons can spend money to strike against the other player,...

In this paper, we construct a model of market structure in the global arms industry linking concentration, military procurement, international trade and regional conflict. We show how concentration depends on the willingness of producers to import for their military needs and on the relative...

We analyze a contest between two groups where group members have differing valuations for the contested rent. Generically the pivotal group member with the median valuation of the rent will not act himself but will want to send a group member that has preferences different to her own into the...

We study escalation and aggression in an experimental first-strike game in which two participants play multiple rounds of a money-earning task. In each round, both players can spend money to accumulate weapons. The player with more weapons can spend money to strike against the other player,...

During the 2000s, navies in the Asia-Pacific region have experienced a significant, if not unprecedented, bout of naval expansion. This buildup has been quantitative, but more importantly, qualitative as well, and in many cases goes beyond mere modernization. It has been driven by both rising...

An examination of the viability and usefulness of arms control in the late 1980s, the paper looks at the prospects of arms controls to maintain peace and the dangers inherent to such agreements. The authors then provide a series of suggestions to improve the procedures surrounding arms control...

Considered here is an arms race in which weapons production exhibits increasing returns to scale technology that stems from the increasing importance of information, electronics, computers, software, etc. in modern weapons systems. Just as in general equilibrium theory, increasing returns to...

This article puts forth collection action as a unifying theme for the conference essays on arms trade, control, and production. For each of these topics, collective action failures are related to group size and group composition considerations. Other issues are also examined including the manner...

There is now a large empirical literature on estimating arms races. This paper surveys some of the econometric issues involved in estimating action-reaction models of such races. Starting from the traditional Richardson model, it examines issues of identification, specification, and the role of...