Abstract:
We consider a dynamic setting where two countries with competing claims to a resource/asset first arm and then choose whether to resolve their dispute through war or peacefully through settlement. War precludes international trade and can be destructive, but also locks gains and eliminates arming costs in the future. By contrast, a peaceful resolution, possibly supported by arming, avoids destruction and allows for mutually advantageous trade; yet future settlements must be renegotiated under the threat of war. We characterize the conditions under which peace is stable and show that, depending on war's destructiveness, time preferences, and the distribution of resource endowments, greater gains from trade can pacify international tensions, but possibly only for more uneven endowment distributions.