- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Allen Lane; First Edition First Printing edition (28 Feb 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1846141281
- ISBN-13: 978-1846141287
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 395,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
'If you have to trust somebody in matters of economics, you could do worse than a Nobel Prize-winning former chief economist of the World Bank ... the superb achievement of this book, however, is how little you do have to take on trust' - Sam Leith, Telegraph
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
THE THREE TRILLION DOLLAR WAR will be a devastating reckoning of the true cost of the Iraq war - quite apart from its tragic human toll - which the Bush administration has estimated at $50 billion, but which Stiglitz and Bilmes will show underestimates the real figure by approximately six times. The authors expose the gigantic expenses which have so far not been officially accounted for, including not only big ticket items like replacing military equipment (being used up at six times the peacetime rate) but also the cost of caring for thousands of wounded veterans - for the rest of their lives. Shifting to a global perspective, the authors investigate the cost in lives and damage within Iraq and the Middle East generally. With chilling precision, they calculate what the money spent on the war would have produced had it been further invested in the growth of the economy, in the US and around the world, and in infrastructure building. Stiglitz and Bilmes write in simple language, which makes the details they present, and the sums they add up, all the more disturbing. This book will change forever the way we think about the Iraq war - and about the cost of war generally.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
ON MARCH 19, 2003, the United States and its "coalition of the willing" invaded Iraq. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
ON MARCH 19, 2003, the United States and its "coalition of the willing" invaded Iraq. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
For me this book (which I've just finished) has given me 3 insights:
1) Geez, war really does cost a lot. I can't see how any politician in his / her right mind would ever commit their country to such an economy-destroyer. The US and UK are shown to have cunningly tried to both disregard and hide the costs of invading Iraq, and to a lesser extent, Afghanistan, to a shockingly immoral and callous extent. You won't be surprised to know the Iraqis haven't exactly done well out of the war either. Unless you're a defence contractor, war just isn't worth it.
2) Politicians will go to extreme lengths for their own short term gain, at almost any cost. It really is depressing, reading that the US army employs so many contractors to keep the army fatality numbers lower, but at such a cost that they don't give their own troops proper equipment or reasonable medical care after injury or PTSD. That's material cost. The authors also include goodwill towards America and Britain - this book is very well thought out.
3) Politicians again I'm afraid: The Bush administration has managed to hump much of the costs onto the next generations in the form of interest payments, without anyone (apart from the authors) really noticing. This is really quite serious and I winced as I read what services might have to be cut so that this war can be paid off.
The facts and figures are presented clearly and give no doubt that the proper research and reasonable methods / assumptions have been made by the authors, who I must thank for this book. I can't think of any adult who shouldn't read this. The headline figures are very interesting but the book provides more than that; it gave me an education into the non-military effects of war, and how devastating they invariably are.
1) Geez, war really does cost a lot. I can't see how any politician in his / her right mind would ever commit their country to such an economy-destroyer. The US and UK are shown to have cunningly tried to both disregard and hide the costs of invading Iraq, and to a lesser extent, Afghanistan, to a shockingly immoral and callous extent. You won't be surprised to know the Iraqis haven't exactly done well out of the war either. Unless you're a defence contractor, war just isn't worth it.
2) Politicians will go to extreme lengths for their own short term gain, at almost any cost. It really is depressing, reading that the US army employs so many contractors to keep the army fatality numbers lower, but at such a cost that they don't give their own troops proper equipment or reasonable medical care after injury or PTSD. That's material cost. The authors also include goodwill towards America and Britain - this book is very well thought out.
3) Politicians again I'm afraid: The Bush administration has managed to hump much of the costs onto the next generations in the form of interest payments, without anyone (apart from the authors) really noticing. This is really quite serious and I winced as I read what services might have to be cut so that this war can be paid off.
The facts and figures are presented clearly and give no doubt that the proper research and reasonable methods / assumptions have been made by the authors, who I must thank for this book. I can't think of any adult who shouldn't read this. The headline figures are very interesting but the book provides more than that; it gave me an education into the non-military effects of war, and how devastating they invariably are.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes have being doing their sums with regard to the total cost of the War in Iraq to the United States. The result is an accessible and readable account which makes the sums straightforward and the reasons and assumptions they have used are made clear to the reader - indeed it is evident that their estimate is on the low side.
Stiglitz, a writer I for one have a good deal of time for, is an economist whom some would understandably pigeon hole as a reformist and this comes across in his writings. I dont think he completely appreciates the level of mendacity and the aims of the conservative right with regard to government. They are not at all disturbed at the disarray of public finances in the U.S. and are quite happy to see goverment spending on social programs and business regulation cut to make payments on the immense public deficit they have bequeathed future citizens of the U.S.
Saying that - he does pay some attention to the financial and human effects of the War with regards to Iraq, Britain and indeed the World in general. His appreciation of the size of the health problem that U.S. troops are incurring is deep and his castigating of the Bush administration record on this is suitably caustic.
He also looks into the explosive growth of private contractors, the effect on cost of oil, the weak congressional oversight of the war and its costs and other related issues. I'd thoroughly reccomend it and other Stiglitz writings, he maybe a bit niave about the prospects for change but his writing is sharp and has a good deal of integrity.
Stiglitz, a writer I for one have a good deal of time for, is an economist whom some would understandably pigeon hole as a reformist and this comes across in his writings. I dont think he completely appreciates the level of mendacity and the aims of the conservative right with regard to government. They are not at all disturbed at the disarray of public finances in the U.S. and are quite happy to see goverment spending on social programs and business regulation cut to make payments on the immense public deficit they have bequeathed future citizens of the U.S.
Saying that - he does pay some attention to the financial and human effects of the War with regards to Iraq, Britain and indeed the World in general. His appreciation of the size of the health problem that U.S. troops are incurring is deep and his castigating of the Bush administration record on this is suitably caustic.
He also looks into the explosive growth of private contractors, the effect on cost of oil, the weak congressional oversight of the war and its costs and other related issues. I'd thoroughly reccomend it and other Stiglitz writings, he maybe a bit niave about the prospects for change but his writing is sharp and has a good deal of integrity.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
War is always a sign of failure. In human terms, that terrible cost is usually quite obvious. The financial cost of war can be harder to determine. In The Three Trillion Dollar War, two highly-regarded economists - Nobel Prize winning Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard teacher Linda Bilmes - attempt to put a dollar price tag on just how much the war cost the taxpayer.
In a highly accessible style, the authors look at obvious costs, such as how the rising cost of a barrel of oil impacts the economy, as well as the shamefully overlooked costs of what it takes to provide life-time care for injured veterans. Stiglitz and Bilmes also cast a global eye on the European economies, as well as the impact in the poorer countries of Africa and of course, the citizenry of the Middle East.
This book is not only critical of what has gone wrong, the authors include a realistic set of recommendations to ensure that future wars should be properly budgeted for and that cost should be openly discussed with those who will be paying for it. There is, of course, some mention of who the "war on terrorism" has been profitable for, notably the energy industry and the no-bid, cost-plus government contractors such as Haliburton, who, in a more ethical previous generation, might have been roundly denounced for being war-profiteers but in the current intellectual climate, are to be found at the very bosom of government.
Easy to read and almost entirely equation free (you'll have to search in the methodology notes for a few), The Three Trillion Dollar War provides a valuable perspective on the financial cost of a terrible war of choice, all the more persuasive given that its authors Stiglitz and Bilmes, have served in government themselves.
In a highly accessible style, the authors look at obvious costs, such as how the rising cost of a barrel of oil impacts the economy, as well as the shamefully overlooked costs of what it takes to provide life-time care for injured veterans. Stiglitz and Bilmes also cast a global eye on the European economies, as well as the impact in the poorer countries of Africa and of course, the citizenry of the Middle East.
This book is not only critical of what has gone wrong, the authors include a realistic set of recommendations to ensure that future wars should be properly budgeted for and that cost should be openly discussed with those who will be paying for it. There is, of course, some mention of who the "war on terrorism" has been profitable for, notably the energy industry and the no-bid, cost-plus government contractors such as Haliburton, who, in a more ethical previous generation, might have been roundly denounced for being war-profiteers but in the current intellectual climate, are to be found at the very bosom of government.
Easy to read and almost entirely equation free (you'll have to search in the methodology notes for a few), The Three Trillion Dollar War provides a valuable perspective on the financial cost of a terrible war of choice, all the more persuasive given that its authors Stiglitz and Bilmes, have served in government themselves.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Eyes opener - but far too long
Interesting to realize the extent of the impact on all tax payers. There are many implications of the "go to war" decision that we do not realize or take into account in our... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Rafal Gruszczynski
A terrible political decision
The US invasion of Iraq was an act of aggression, which violated international law.
Its premises were false: Saddam Hussein didn't possess weapons of mass destruction... Read more
Its premises were false: Saddam Hussein didn't possess weapons of mass destruction... Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2009 by Luc REYNAERT
Useful estimates of the costs of the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan
Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001, and Linda Bilmes, a lecturer at Harvard, have produced an estimate of the real cost of the wars on Iraq and... Read more
Published on 24 April 2008 by William Podmore
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Biographies & Histories > Business & Economic History
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Economics > International Economics
- Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > Middle East > Arabian Peninsula
- Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > Middle East > Iraq
- Books > History > Military History > Wars, Battles & Campaigns
- Books > History > Religious History > Other Religions
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Warfare & Defence > War & Defence Operations
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
