[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Macroeconomics
Introduction
Since the dawn of history, many wars have been fought for the control of economic resources and to improve the economic lot of people. One need to look no further then the war between ancient Greece and Troy in order to try and understand the motives for war as being the control of economic resources or the protection of principles. The winners in a conflict can gain the upper hand by gaining better access to fertile lands or transportation routes. Wars have a tendency of acting as a cohesive force in a society, bringing people together and efforts are made to increase production in order to wage war. Thus there is an increase in consumption. Because of the emergency situation, the labor movement is very much more likely to cooperate without asking for higher rewards and the increased consumption is likely to create a market for certain goods which could not be sold before. If the human cost of war is not considered, then wars can certainly increase economic activity and can reduce unemployment, especially in areas that are far from the war front and are supplying the war material. Although it is equally true that the war effort can increase the long term economic burden in the form of the national debt and the economic gains from a war must be carefully weighed against the war expenditure and losses.
In the history of the United States of America, the Great Depression which followed the First World War was a specially trying time for the nation. The production and consumption of goods and services had slowed down by as much as 20% with an accompanying collapse in the prices of goods. The margin of shrinkage brought about loss of savings, unemployment, deprivation, hardship, and fear, which were not a part of the American economic system........
