Dear SM,

That's quite a claim. Anybody familiar with economics or history would disagree with me. Please provide evidence for that claim. That seems like an assertion without proof.

Unfortunately when many people mean growth they want an increased population. Increased efficiency and consuming fewer resources? Our unemployment problem is largely due to increased efficiency. We need fewer people to produce the same amount of goods - therefor increased efficiency means increased unemployment. One way to deal with that is to have employees work fewer hours. There are other ways, but that

War generally are due to either one party wanting what another party has or one party fearing that another party will grab what the first party has. The casus belli may be something else, but the casus belli will not lead to war unless both parties want it.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War

Tangible/intangible aims:
Tangible war aims may involve (for example) the acquisition of territory (as in the German goal of Lebensraum in the first half of the 20th century) or the recognition of economic concessions (as in the Anglo-Dutch Wars).

From the above tangible war aims are a struggle for resources.

David,

I have a degree in economics and certainly what I studied bares little resemblance to any accepted concepts. For example Australia has moved from an industrial economy to a mainly service economy which uses a fraction of the resources per unit of output.

Secondly, as mentioned before, resources are often an aim of wars, but are seldom the primary aim. Neither WWI or WWII were started over resources, nor the wars in Korea, Vietnam, or Afghanistan.

The period since WWII has notable for comparatively few conflicts and record growth.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Economics is a disciple notable for the lack of agreement among economists on what constitutes the best course of action or the causes for economic changes.

According to the German historian, Fischer, the instigator of WW1 was Germany. Germany’s overseas empire was small in contrast with the overseas empires of Britain and France along with the vast expanse of Russia. Germany’s desire to expand that empire was a motivating factor. WW2 was motivated by a drive for ‘lebensraum.’ Nazis had a stated aim of eliminating much of the population to the east of Germany and replacing them with Germans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Game describes the conflict between Russia and Britain for the control of central Asia. Control of Afghanistan could lead to an invasion of India by Russia. The conflict has been transformed into a contest between Russia and the US. Neither Russia nor the US cares about the people of Afghanistan, but both want control of the resources.

Afghanistan has abundant natural resources. Whoever controls Afghanistan could exploit those resources.

http://www.afghanistans.com/Information/NResources.htm

Despite a lengthy history of small-scale mining of gems, gold, copper, and coal, systematic exploration of Afghanistan's mineral resources did not begin until the 1960s. In the 1970s Afghanistan was discovered to have a wide variety of mineral resources, but only coal, iron ore, copper ore, and gemstones were targeted for development. Natural gas fields are scattered throughout much of Afghanistan. Recent analysis by the United States Geological Survey has indicated significant unexploited oil reserves in the north as well. After their invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the Soviets endeavored to export some of the country's resources to the USSR. Natural gas, for example, was exported by pipeline across the Amu Darya into the USSR in the 1980s.

http://www.timelines.info/history/conflict_and_war/20th_century_conflicts/conflicts_since_world_war_two/ lists the 49 wars since WW2.

The stated aim in a war is not necessarily the real aim. The real aim is generally to get something that somebody else has or keep something that somebody else wants.

Having a degree in economics confers neither wisdom nor knowledge nor insight nor common sense.

"Having a degree in economics confers neither wisdom nor knowledge nor insight nor common sense."

Lol!..too true, david f.

However, one can always rely on Shadow Minister to wax lyrical about his "degrees"...and even if he doesn't have an actual degree in a certain field, we can be guaranteed that he will have studied that field in a related unit associated with the myriad degrees he does have.

It's positively fascinating - SM appears to believe that if he conveys the information that he has a degree in something that it should shut down debate...coz, well he has a degree in it.

Quite hilarious really.

David, Poirot,

What puzzles me is why both of you revel in your ignorance? Perhaps it is because ignorance allows you to pontificate opinions that have no basis in reality with the certainty of the village idiot(as is the way of the left whingers).

If you won't take my word, that what you spout is rubbish, perhaps you could find some economic text that supports your drivel. However, as you can't I am expecting either a lame excuse or a link to an equally ignorant blogger.

David,

if your premise is that wars are triggered by a demand for resources, then as the world economy grows and demand for resources increases, there would be an increase in the number and scale of conflicts? Perhaps you could use your self trained intellect to explain why exactly the opposite has occurred.

Poirot,

For god's sake grow up.