| The purpose of this thesis is to provide a framework of analysis integrating economy and security, which can allow us to analyze the long run effect of the major systemic change--the end of the Cold War with the U.S. as the single surviving superpower (but at the cost of huge external debt)--on the distribution of world wealth and military power over time. Out of historical analysis of various events in world history in the past five hundred years, major finding is: "The effect of initial distribution of stocks of arms and wealth (including external debt) on their flows has been significant in such a way that the long-run trend exhibits a concentration of both wealth and power of the world toward the state initially the most powerful in arms, which will be more pronounced the bigger the initial asymmetry in arms and wealth, even though it is subject to the competitive structure among the major powers." The military and financial history of the particular case of our concern, the U.S. over the past five hundred years, is also found to fit the general pattern quite well so that the conclusion is: "Not only the world power but also the world wealth will concentrate toward the U.S. over time so that the U.S. will be the only economic and military superpower into the 21st century and beyond.". |
