It can also be a negative number – a loss – in which case there is no rational grounds for entering a war.
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If we can assume people are rough expected utility maximisers, which they seem to be, we would then predict that wars have historically been initiated by countries that according to our calculations have positive expected utility of going to war.
Rational for who? There is no disembodied nation-spirit whose interests are the country’s interests. It seems crazy to have a theory of war which never uses the phrase “principal-agent problem”.
Rational for who? There is no disembodied nation-spirit whose interests are the country’s interests. It seems crazy to have a theory of war which never uses the phrase “principal-agent problem”.