U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is on the rise, and as the U.S. boasts the largest defense sector in the world, war strengthens its economy instead of causing stagnation. Normally war damages a country's economy, but the U.S. seems to be an exception. According to data collected by Anadolu Agency (AA), in the U.S., which has spent only 31 years out of the last 115 not at war, GDP increased every time the country went to war.
The U.S. entered World War I in 1917 and its GDP increased 9 percent that year. All the other countries involved in the fighting went through recessions. The economies of France, Austria and Germany shrank by 36 percent, 26.7 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
World War II bolstered the U.S. economy even more than World War I did and the U.S. experienced one of its strongest periods of economic growth. Before the country entered the war in 1941, its GDP increased 8 percent in 1939 and 8.8 percent in 1940. In 1941 GDP rose 17.7 percent, 18.9 percent in 1942 and 17 percent in 1943 - all very extreme figures. The U.S. economy's growth slowed after the war as growth fell to 0.7 percent in 1944 and 1 percent in 1945. According to these figures, the average growth rate between 1939 and 1945 was 11 percent. The GDP growth rate continued to fall after peace was achieved.
The U.S. economy finally recovered between 1950 and 1953 thanks to the Korean War. GDP decreased 0.5 percent in 1949 but started increasing, respectively, by 8.7 percent, 8.1 percent, 4.1 percent and 4.7 percent in 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1953, the year the war ended. Following the war, the U.S. economy shrank 0.6 percent in 1954 and entered a growth period with the declaration of the Vietnam War.
While the U.S. did not actually enter the Vietnam War, being fought 19,000 kilometers away from U.S. borders until 1965, it had been providing financial support and military materials to South Vietnam since 1954. On average, GDP increased 3.9 percent during these 10 years during which time the U.S. was passively involved in the war. As soon as the country joined the war, the average GDP increase picked up to around 4.2 percent between 1965 and 1973. The U.S., which was defeated in Vietnam, was also involved in wars in Zaire, Grenada, Panama, Haiti, Somali, Iran and Iraq. Further, American soldiers also partook in the Bosnia and Kosovo wars together with NATO and United Nation forces. The country's economy seems to grow during periods of war, suggesting that wars revive the U.S. economy.
The U.S. entered the war with Afghanistan - the longest war in U.S. history - after the al-Qaida attacks on Sept. 11, and war was declared on terrorism. The war, which lasted around 13 years, ended on Dec. 28, 2014 when Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, was killed by the U.S.
The war with Iraq was declared in 2003 as the U.S. accused Saddam Hussein of possessing weapons of mass destruction and despite the fact that the war officially ended in 2011, the U.S., this time, could not pull itself from the mire it created in the region.
Despite these clashes and wars, the U.S. economy, except for in 2008 and 2009, continued to grow.
Possibly the main reason for the U.S. economy thriving during these times instead of going into recession is that the wars tend to take place millions of kilometers from U.S. borders. Thus, there were only a limited number of casualties and no harm to America's production and infrastructure facilities. More importantly, the U.S. defense industry - the number one supplier of all kinds of military equipment and ammunition - grew enormously and contributed to economic growth.
Along with having the biggest defense industry in the world, the U.S. reserved a larger budget for its military expenses than the next 14 highest-spending countries' budgets combined. The defense sector employs 3.5 million people and is the locomotive of the U.S. economy.
Due to the significance of the defense sector for the country's economy, questions asking if wars are the locomotive of U.S. industry or if America depend on wars to grow are often raised. As no nuclear warheads were discovered in Iraq, that many weapons possessed by al-Qaida and DAESH are American-made and that there is an interest group deemed the "war lobby" in the U.S., there are strong arguments to reply in the affirmative to these questions. This data implies that there may actually be economic reasons behind the fact that the U.S. joins wars in different parts of the world.
