Empirical applications of models in political economics: competition, warfare, and legislation

• Project/Area Number: 25K00628
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 07040:Economic policy-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Weese Eric 東京大学, 社会科学研究所, 教授 (50777844)
• Project Period (FY): 2025-04-01 – 2029-03-31
• Project Status: Granted (Fiscal Year 2025)
• Budget Amount: ¥13,260,000 (Direct Cost: ¥10,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥3,060,000); Fiscal Year 2028: ¥3,380,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥780,000); Fiscal Year 2027: ¥4,160,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥960,000); Fiscal Year 2026: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2025: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
• Keywords: War / Militarized disputes / Environmental laws

Outline of Research at the Start

Why are there wars? Using a dataset of all national boundary changes in Europe over the past 1000 years, we plan to investigate why some of these boundary changes were violent, while many others were peaceful. Is it the configuration of potential belligerents that matters? Historical enmity? Concerns about the overall balance of power? By using a formal model of war and combining it with our detailed dataset, we hope to learn when wars are more likely, and when in contrast conflicts are more likely to be resolved peacefully.