The True Costs of a US-China War for Taiwan

01/25/2023Ryan McMakenZachary Yost

Ryan McMaken and Zachary Yost discuss new estimates of just how costly a US-China war over Taiwan would be. Things are made even worse by the fact the US is already shopping most of its weapon stockpiles to Ukraine. The US government simply refuses to acknowledge that scarcity exists.

Additional Resources

"The First Battle of the Next War: Wargaming a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan" by Mark F. Cancian, Matthew Cancian, and Eric Heginbotham: Mises.org/WES_07_A

"Taiwan Is Not Ukraine" by Zachary Yost: Mises.org/WES_07_B

"Victory Without Battle: A Smarter Vision for US-Taiwan Policy" by Zachary Yost: Mises.org/WES_07_C

"Rebuilding U.S. Inventories: Six Critical Systems" by Mark F. Cancian: Mises.org/WES_07_D

"Taiwan has nearly US$19 billion in arms sales backlogged in US" by Eric Chang: Mises.org/WES_07_E

"Costs of War" (The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs): Mises.org/WES_07_F

Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.

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Contact Ryan McMaken

Ryan McMaken (@ryanmcmaken) is a senior editor at the Mises Institute. Send him your article submissions for the Mises Wire and Power and Market, but read article guidelines first. Ryan has a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in public policy and international relations from the University of Colorado. He was a housing economist for the State of Colorado. He is the author of Breaking Away: The Case of Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities and Commie Cowboys: The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre.