Does the DOD have monopsony power in defense markets?
Although the DoD has great influence in the United States economy, it does not experience the pricing power that many expect in the markets for […]
Economics
Rich-contextual capitalism and blockchain transparency
I am of the perspective that what we currently have is information-poor capitalism. We all agree that markets are really good at making decisions, but […]
Why DOD’s management fails in the 21st century
Back in the industrial era, the production process was described by interchangeable workers and capital assets measured by plant, equipment, and inventory. Those days have […]
Costs are the negative aspect of a valuation process
I start, then, with fundamentals. The conception of costs in modern economic theory is a conception of displaced alternatives: the cost of obtaining anything is […]
Opportunity cost of the Air Force’s inventory
The U.S. must balance current exigencies with future requirements. Any single-focus approach bears a huge opportunity cost… Operating the smallest, oldest, and least ready […]
What profits should we be willing to pay defense firms?
One of the long-standing problems has been the fact that the government tends to pay profit as a percentage of cost. If a contractor is […]
Is data analysis almost always subjective?
Motivating the military’s move to analytics is the argument that they will make assessments more sound and less subjective . . . because numbers are […]
Could some F-35s be only 1/64th as cost-effective as planned?
For as much as the 2018 report from the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) reveals about the F-35’s lack of progress in nearly […]
The market as a discovery procedure
They had a healthfully vague understanding that the dynamic competition which is always at work in free markets. It continually inspires market movements, movements in […]
Why is construction so costly in the US?
The best industry practice, outlined by Madrid Metro’s Manuel Melis Maynar, is to award contracts by a combination of cost, construction speed, and a technical score […]
How political competition benefits procurement
This article asks if low political competition is associated with more restricted public procurement processes. Using unique Swedish municipal data from 2009 to 2015, it […]
Update on size of Chinese military spending
Whenever I or someone else suggest that we need higher defense spending, there is an incredulous response from critics: US military spending equals the outlays […]
How to think about corporate welfare
You can define corporate welfare in a number of way, but the most common revolves around Government subsidies — and other forms of unearned support […]
Win-win: Liberalism strengthens the military while reducing aggression
A reader emailed be the following question: If the ultimate end-product of the military is death/destruction, is it a good thing to try to make […]
How large is military spending in the US and China?
If you convert Chinese military spending using Market Exchange Rates, then the US is outspending the Chinese on its military by a factor of three. […]