Diamonds Are Forever, Wars Are Not: Is Conflict Bad for Private Firms?

Every once in a while The American Economic Review publishes something interesting. A recent article gave pretty solid evidence that the Civil War promoted by Jonas Savimbi raised profits for the diamond industry.

A long-standing theory in economics is that peaceful development is in the interests of business. 18th century theorists use to write about “sweet commerce.” But Savimbi offered business the opportunity for an alternative government to bid against the Angolan government, thereby converting government rents into profits.

Once peace broke out, the levels profits subsided.

Political Economy and the Press: Karl Marx and Henry Carey at the New York Tribune

Karl Marx’s influential articles on India had less to do with India than Marx’s efforts to take control of the leading Republican paper in the United States. I am posting an ancient copy of my work on the subject. The article also suggests the complexity of reading Marx, who had multiple objectives in its writings.

Political Economy and the Press: Karl Marx and Henry Carey at the New York Tribune

For many years, Karl Marx earned his living as a correspondent for the widely read New York Daily Tribune. The Weekly Tribune, which was composed of selections from the daily edition, had a circulation of 200,000 (see Marx 1860, p. 265). Marx was naturally proud to be invited to be a part of the Tribune, which he considered to be “the ‘leading [verbreitetste] journal’ in the United States” (Marx to Engels, 14 June 1853; in Marx and Engels 1975, p. 79). In the duly famous introduction to his Critique of Political Economy, he wrote of his “collaboration . . . with the New York Tribune, the leading Anglo‑American newspaper” (Marx 1859, p. 23).

The editor, Charles Dana, considered Marx’s contributions to be very important. The biographer of Horace Greeley, owner of the Tribune, offered a description of a typical working day at the Tribune:

Mr. Dana enters with a quick, decided step, goes straight to his desk . . . and is lost in perusal of ‘Karl Marx’ or ‘An American Woman in Paris’. [Parton 1854; cited in Draper 1968, p. 11]

On 12 March 1852, Dana wrote, “It may perhaps give you pleasure to know that [your articles] are read with satisfaction by a considerable number of persons, and are widely reproduced” (cited in Blitzer 1966, p. xix). Marx basked in the glow of a leader that Dana attached to one of Marx’s articles: “we may properly pay a tribute to the remarkable ability of the correspondent by whom this interesting piece of intelligence is furnished.” In a letter to Engels, Marx drew the conclusion, “As you see, I am firmly in the saddle” (Marx to Engels, 26 April 1853; reprinted in CW: 39, pp. 315-16). When the 1857 crisis compelled the Tribune to reduce its staff, Marx was one of the two correspondents who remained on the payroll (Padover 1978, p. 287), although, as we shall see, this honor was rather hollow. Indeed, although Dana later assured Marx in a letter that Marx was “not only one of the most highly valued, but one of the best paid contributors attached to the journal,” Dana had no intention of making his sentiments (reprinted in Marx 1860, pp. 323‑24). Many years afterwards, as editor of the Sun, Dana requested information from Marx concerning the International. Marx’s answer, which arrived only a few months before his death, was printed, along with a short statement from Dana in which he praised Marx as “an extraordinary man.” Dana added:

His talents were brilliant and his learning varied and accurate. [Reprinted in Marx and Engels 1978, Vol. 22; Appendix, p. 1095].