Tim’s Garden, the Battle with the Squirrels and Afghanistan
Whenever our class discussions turn to world politics, we get some lively debates. Afghanistan is one of those. While political assessments look at voter turnout or election results and military assessments look at strategy, casualties or the number of troops, I always ask, “what variables do you think we should look at as disciples of economics?” The answers vary depending on priorities, but the main variables are unemployment, the labor force participation rate, the level of investment and of course the GDP per person. Obviously in those places where there are few employment alternatives for the labor force and the population is hungry, the job of bomb making or IUD construction are rational employment alternatives. The lack of investment comes from few opportunities for new business and/or a high price for credit (even though charging interest is against the Koran) that naturally results from an area without security. The low GDP per person tells us that there is not much economic