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Thomas Duncan

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Thomas Duncan

  • Dissertation Fellow

Tom Duncan is a fourth year PhD student in the Department of Economics at George Mason University. He has taught three units of International Economic Policy at George Mason University. His research interests include political economy, public choice, Austrian economics, institutional economics, and development economics. Tom has published his research in the Libertarian Papers and presented at the Association of Private Enterprise Educators annual conference.

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Published Research

The Overlooked Costs of the Permanent War Economy

Christopher Coyne, Thomas Duncan | Dec 03, 2012
How does the permanent war economy interact, and subsume, the private, non-military economy? Can the two remain at a distance while sharing resource pools? This forthcoming paper argues that they cannot.

Labor Theory of Property

Thomas Duncan | Sep 2011
The theory of homesteading as a means for property rights formation is one that favors production over consumption and denies the subjectivity of value.

Working Papers

The Origins of the Permanent War Economy

Christopher Coyne, Thomas Duncan | Mar 19, 2013
The narrative that arose during the Great Depression and World War II was that capitalism was in its final stages and failing. The economic arguments of the time combined strands of Keynesianism and Marxism to construct a link between military spending and unemployment, suggesting that the capitalist economy of the U.S. must become militarized to be sustained.

The Overlooked Costs of the Permanent War Economy

Christopher Coyne, Thomas Duncan | Jul 26, 2012
How does the permanent war economy interact, and subsume, the private, non-military economy? Can the two remain at a distance while sharing resource pools? This paper argues that they cannot. Once the U.S. embarked upon the path of permanent war, starting with World War II, the result was a permanent war economy. The permanent war economy continuously draws resources into the military sector at the expense of the private economy, even in times of peace.

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