Current Research
Why Businesses Oppose War, (Dissertation Research/Book Project)
Why do businesses support or oppose wars? International political economy scholars have long studied the determinants of businesses’ foreign economic policy preferences, but we know far less about businesses’ foreign security policy preferences. This is problematic since businesses’ security policy preferences are a key microfoundation for understanding whether, when, and why business pressure might affect a state’s foreign security policy. My dissertation research/book project highlights why actors’ war preferences—their opinions about interstate conflict—vary. Specifically, I analyze how American businesses assessed and confronted the threat of interstate war across the 20th century. Based on three years of extensive archival field work, and statistical analysis of historical survey data, I find multiple factors determine a business’ war preferences. Namely, I argue that a business’s trade orientation and conflict relevance combine to make them support or oppose war. In contrast to existing explanations, neither factor alone sufficiently explains business’ war preferences.
Supporting Papers:
For Peace or Profit: Why Finance Opposes War, (Second Book Project)
How does the finance industry react to geopolitical shocks like interstate war? Existing scholarship from Karl Polanyi and Jacob Viner among others argues that the finance industry unilaterally opposes disruptive foreign policy decisions, such as the decision to go to war. In many empirical cases, however, such as World Wars I and II, the American finance industry quickly adjusted to supporting the war after an initial conflict shock. Based on extensive archival research, and statistical analysis of newly cleaned historical data on wartime sovereign bond prices and yields, I argue that the finance industry takes a probabilistic rather than deterministic approach to assessing geopolitical risks, such as wars. The finance industry is willing to support risky foreign policy decisions if it receives an appropriate risk premium to compensate for that risk.
Supporting Papers:
Other Papers
Why do businesses support or oppose wars? International political economy scholars have long studied the determinants of businesses’ foreign economic policy preferences, but we know far less about businesses’ foreign security policy preferences. This is problematic since businesses’ security policy preferences are a key microfoundation for understanding whether, when, and why business pressure might affect a state’s foreign security policy. My dissertation research/book project highlights why actors’ war preferences—their opinions about interstate conflict—vary. Specifically, I analyze how American businesses assessed and confronted the threat of interstate war across the 20th century. Based on three years of extensive archival field work, and statistical analysis of historical survey data, I find multiple factors determine a business’ war preferences. Namely, I argue that a business’s trade orientation and conflict relevance combine to make them support or oppose war. In contrast to existing explanations, neither factor alone sufficiently explains business’ war preferences.
- A complete version of the dissertation can be found here; I am actively revising this version into a book manuscript
Supporting Papers:
- Alexander Kirss, "Interest or Ideology? Why Business Leaders Supported or Opposed the Vietnam War,” Business and Politics (2022): 1 - 17.
- "Why Businesses Oppose War," Revise and Resubmit at International Security (Appendix)
For Peace or Profit: Why Finance Opposes War, (Second Book Project)
How does the finance industry react to geopolitical shocks like interstate war? Existing scholarship from Karl Polanyi and Jacob Viner among others argues that the finance industry unilaterally opposes disruptive foreign policy decisions, such as the decision to go to war. In many empirical cases, however, such as World Wars I and II, the American finance industry quickly adjusted to supporting the war after an initial conflict shock. Based on extensive archival research, and statistical analysis of newly cleaned historical data on wartime sovereign bond prices and yields, I argue that the finance industry takes a probabilistic rather than deterministic approach to assessing geopolitical risks, such as wars. The finance industry is willing to support risky foreign policy decisions if it receives an appropriate risk premium to compensate for that risk.
Supporting Papers:
Other Papers
- “‘Less stress, more confidence’: Supporting Junior Scholars Online at the Graduate Student International Political Economy Workshop,” PS: Political Science and Politics 55, no. 3 (2022): 549-522. (w/ Cleo O’Brien Udry and Paul Ko)
