What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy

Before making an expenditure or investment, economists often analyze what the money could have bought instead, and in a “New York Times article,” journalist David Leonhardt explores the opportunity costs of the $1.2 trillion spent by the US on the Iraq war. Leonhardt relies on a conservative estimate of the direct and indirect costs of a war originally estimated to cost $50 billion by the Pentagon. By avoiding the invasion, the US could have invested in immunizations for every child on the globe. The nation could have invested in alternative-energy research. Or, the US could have funded all recommendations on security issued by the 9/11 Commission. The war spending has skewed how US politicians and voters think about financial resources, suggests economist Scott Wallsten. US citizens can only dream about how they might have spent $1.2 trillion and get accustomed to thinking in terms of billions and trillions as they continue to pay bills for the war and other debt. – YaleGlobal