Ep. 34 – Tactical Economics, with Maj. Jon Bate

Modern War Institute

John Amble

Government, News

4.7 • 798 Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2017

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Money is a powerful weapon in a combat zone. There are risks of deploying it in the form of economic programs, of course. But when used effectively, "tactical economics" can be a powerful tool with which to achieve operational and even tactical goals. In this conversation with MWI's Capt. Jake Miraldi, Maj. Jon Bate explains how money can be brought to bear at war.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Due to the discovery accidentally of over $600 million in U.S. $100
0:08.2	$100 bills, stockpiled in Baghdad, a couple Army sergeants stumbled across it.
0:14.0	And so we had this massive stockpile of cash, and then commanders could start using for essential needs.
0:25.0	Yeah. commanders could start using for essential needs. So we're talking about $4 billion in Iraq and over $3 billion in Afghanistan.
0:30.1	So at one point, Serb constituted 5% of the GDP of Afghanistan.
0:34.5	So these are pretty massive amounts of money.
0:42.3	Yeah. of Afghanistan, so these are pretty massive amounts of money. Hey and welcome back to the Modern War Institute podcast. I'm John Amble, editorial director at
0:47.9	MWI, and we've got a great episode today. Captain Jake Moraldi talks to Major John
0:53.5	Bate, an instructor of economics here at West Point.
0:57.5	Economic programs have played a central role in U.S. strategy at our recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
1:04.2	But there is a risk to this, of course. We don't necessarily have the metrics to measure how effective they actually are or to track the money that we spend on them and executed poorly.
1:14.6	They may even risk fueling corruption or other problems.
1:17.6	But done properly and with precise targeting, money really becomes a powerful tool with which to support operational and strategic objectives.
1:28.6	That's what the conversation in this episode is about, what Major Bait calls tactical economics.
1:34.9	We originally released this episode last year, but since we've got many new followers since
1:39.1	then and the topic remains extremely relevant, we're republishing it as we get ready to ramp up with a bunch of new
1:45.2	and exciting episodes this fall. Remember to follow MWI on Twitter and Facebook and subscribe to
1:51.9	the MWI podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. And one quick note,
1:58.1	what you hear in this podcast are the views of the participants and don't
2:01.1	represent the position of any agency of the U.S. government.
2:04.7	All right, here's Captain Jake Moraldi and Major John Bate.
2:10.2	Well, Major Bait, welcome to the podcast.
	...

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