Examples Of A War Economy

     Put simply, a war economy is organized around sustaining a military effort. Shifting from a civilian system to a war economy means redirecting the nation's resources and priorities from serving the needs of its people to serving the demands of the war. 

     Of course, war causes destruction and death, and that weakens an economy over the long term. But war also brings massive government spending, wide-scale industrial retooling and innovation, surges in production and full employment. So a war economy can actually generate significant growth in gross domestic product for several years.

      This was true for several nations in the World War I era, including France, Italy and the United States. It was true in the World War II era for Britain, the U.S., Germany, the Soviet Union and other belligerents. And it is true for Russia today. 

     Before Russia took its war on Ukraine full scale in February, 2022, a considerable portion of its workers were unemployed and many of its factories were idle. In the time since, the nation has activated much of that untapped economic potential. Unemployment has hit record lows, and factories are in overdrive to keep soldiers equipped with weaponry, ammunition, vehicles and drones. As a result, Russia's economic growth has outperformed major economies such as Germany and the United Kingdom.

     Evidence suggests that Russia's leadership could keep the war machine throttled at its current RPM and avoid collapse for far longer than many onlookers would expect - or hope. - J. Jacques