Macroeconomic Subject and How It Term Paper

With Iraq opened up, companies from the U.S. could benefit from an expanding market, with natural resources and qualified, cheap labor. The result is, however, that the current security environment is unstable, which means that the U.S. companies are only benefiting in a limited manner from the potential advantages of the market.

As a conclusion and result of the cost-benefit analysis, it seems that the war in Iraq had, in fact, limited or no benefits for the U.S. economy and that the effects of the war on the American economy were mostly negative. These included a negative impact on the federal budget, because of the accelerated spending with the war effort, a potential contribution to the financial crisis and to the increase in oil prices. On the other hand, the opportunity costs, associated to the war in Iraq, were also significant, including reducing funds for Afghanistan and for national projects. The benefits, as mentioned, were either limited or short-termed.

Bibliography

1. Stiglitz, J; Bilmes, L. The Iraq War Will Cost Us $3 Trillion, and Much More. The Washington Post.March 9, 2008

2. Stiglitz, J; Bilmes, L. The true cost of the Iraq war: $3 trillion and beyond. The Washington Post. September 5, 2010

3. Leonhardt, D. America's Sea of Red Ink Was Years in the Making. The New York Times. June 2009.

4. Bloomberg chart from The Evolution of Crude Oil Prices Since 1970. On the Internet at http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Evolution-of-Crude-Oil-Prices-Since-1970. Last retrieved on October 1, 2010

5. Baker, D. The Economic Impact of the Iraq War and Higher Military Spending. Center for Economic and Policy Research. May 2007.

March 9, 2008

Stiglitz, J; Bilmes, L. The true cost of the Iraq war: $3 trillion and beyond. The Washington Post. September 5, 2010

Leonhardt, D. America's Sea of Red Ink Was Years in the Making. The New York Times. June 2009.

Bloomberg chart from The Evolution of Crude Oil Prices Since….....