Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy

Editor-in-Chief: Raul Caruso

Language: English

First published: January 1, 1993

Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year

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Starting 2025, Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy (PEPS) will be transferred to Gold Open Access on a year-by-year basis. All articles will thus immediately appear under the Creative Commons license CC BY. There will be no publication costs for the authors.

The Open Access transformation is based on Subscribe to Open, an alternative model that enables the full Open Access transformation of journals through the continuation of existing subscriptions. The prerequisite for successful transformation is that subscriptions are continued to the same extent as before. The editors of PEPS and the publisher De Gruyter would therefore like to thank all subscribers for their support, which has made the transformation to Open Access possible.

Objective
The main objectives of Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy (PEPS) are:
- to further research in Peace Science and Peace Economics,
- to expose the scholarly community to innovative peace-related research,
- to disseminate the study of peace economics to a wider audience.

PEPS accepts both theoretical and empirical contributions to the fields of Peace Economics and Peace Science. In line with Peace Science tradition, PEPS welcomes contributions from an interdisciplinary community of scholars from a variety of disciplines including economics, political science, regional science, mathematics, and history, among others.

Given the fact that the journal is online, authors are not asked to limit themselves to a set word or page count for full-length papers. In order to improve scientific communication within the field of Peace Science and Peace Economics, the journal also publishes “Letters,” to provide accounts of new original research. Letters generally do not exceed 2,500 words in length, exclusive of equations, graphs, and figures. Letters can concern either theoretical or applied work, and will be subject to the peer-review process.

Topics
The journal publishes papers covering a wide range of topics with the common theme of peace and conflict analysis, including:

Military expenditures (determinants and impact)
Arms Trade and Military industry
Alliances and games
Game and related theory
Contest theory
General equilibrium models of conflict and conflict management
Economic policies to cope with actual and potential conflicts
Peacekeeping
Economic policies for peacebuilding
Mathematical approaches to conflict management
Mathematical models of arms races and wars
Studies on the causes of wars and political violence
The impact of conflicts and violence on welfare
Arms control, government spending and International Security
Trade disputes, Trade wars and international economic sanctions

Article formats
PEPS publishes both full-length papers and shorter “Letters.”　

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Your Benefits

Bridging between theoretical and empirical studies
International outreach of the journal
Prestigious editorial board
Interdisciplinary outlook on the subject matter
Wide range of topics

History

Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy was founded in 1997 by Walter Isard, Professor Emeritus of Economics and Regional Science at Cornell University, and widely recognized as a founding father of Peace Science studies. Today, the journal is edited by Raul Caruso of the Institute of Economic Policy of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.

Four issues/year
Content available since 1993 (Volume 1, Issue 1)
ISSN: 1554-8597

Open Access
Framing an Analytic Narrative: A Tale of Three Crises

September 25, 2025

Frank C. Zagare

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This essay explores a fundamental modeling choice that must be addressed before an explanatory analytic narrative can be developed: whether to rely on a model fashioned around the specific event or political process under investigation using the procedure of “revealed preferences,” or to “posit” preferences and situate the narrative in a more general model. It argues that analytic narratives that infer preferences from actual choices not only border on the tautological, but may also fail to take account of underlying preferences that are obscured by strategic behavior. In contrast, explanations derived from a more general model are enhanced when the model’s expectations are confirmed empirically. By their very nature, the organizing power inherent in a generic model not only facilitates cross case comparisons, but also isolates the causal role played by critical explanatory variables. The latter advantage of using an ‘off-the-shelf” model is demonstrated in an examination of three structurally similar, yet otherwise distinct, acute interstate crises: the Bosnian crisis of 1908–1909, the July crisis of 1914, and the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.
Open Access
Shadows of War: Military Action’s Impact on Terror Anxiety in Europe

August 21, 2025

Alexandra Kechrinioti, Dimitrios Karamanis

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This article examines the impact of military activities on public perceptions of terrorism within Europe. Utilizing data from the European Social Survey (ESS) database, which includes 92,636 respondents from 27 countries over the period 2005–2008, we analyse how increases in military expenditures and the frequency of armed conflicts, influence the public’s fear of terrorism. Our findings show a clear correlation: as countries spend more on the military, participate more actively in conflicts, and their enemies are religiously divergent and less technologically developed, their citizens are more likely to fear terrorist attacks. However, this study also finds that higher levels of social and institutional trust, as well as greater educational attainment and diverse backgrounds of the citizens, can restrict these sentiments. The results highlight a dual need in policy-making: while military preparedness is crucial, enhancing social trust and investing in education could help reduce the heightened perceptions of terrorism risk that military actions may cause. This approach could balance national security needs with maintaining public calm and resilience.
Open Access
Defense Spending, Conflict and Economic Growth in Europe

May 23, 2025

Sandro Knezović, Marina Tkalec

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This study seeks to answer the following research question: How do defense spending and conflict impact economic growth in Europe, and what role does NATO membership play in shaping these dynamics? Using a panel dataset of 40 European countries from 1999 to 2023, the analysis investigates a change in security dynamics in Europe post-2014, determinants of military expenditure, whether NATO’s influence is more pronounced for countries closer to Russia, and how military expenditure and conflict impact economic performance. Employing panel econometric techniques, the analysis reveals that while military expenditure is not directly correlated with GDP per capita growth, conflict exerts a profoundly negative effect, with battle-related deaths significantly reducing economic performance. NATO membership is associated with increased defense spending, where geographical distance to Russia implies weakening of NATO countries’ military budgets. For NATO members, higher US military expenditure correlates with reduced European spending, highlighting reliance on American security provisions. The findings underscore the complex dynamics between defense allocations, alliance structures, and economic conditions, emphasizing the need for balanced policy approaches that address security imperatives without compromising long-term economic growth.
Open Access
Who Your Friends are Matters: Types of Supporters and Child Recruitment by Rebel Groups

January 1, 2000

Yun Jung Yang

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Child soldiering has been identified as one of the most prevalent human rights violations perpetrated by rebels. The aim of this research is to elucidate the potential influence of third parties, external supporters, on child soldiering by rebels. The research hypothesises that rebel’s likelihood of child recruitment could be differentiated depending on who the supporter is. The research argues that rebels with the backing of other insurgent groups are more likely to engage in child recruitment, whereas they may not engage in active child soldiering when having state supporters. The statistical results support the argument that rebels with rebel supporters are more likely to recruit child soldiers; however, the research also finds inconsistent outcomes on the impact of state supporters. This research emphasises the heterogeneity amongst types of supporters and contributes to the understanding of the relationships between external supporters and child recruitment, which has been relatively understudied.
Open Access
The Import of Strategic and Nonstrategic Commodities During War: A Systematic Case Study Focusing on Israel from 1980 till 2014

January 1, 2000

Yuval Finkel, Nizan Feldman

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Under what circumstances do belligerents succeed in increasing their imports during wartime? This research seeks to answer that question by addressing contradictory findings in the literature on the relationship between trade and war. We propose that the answer depends on two factors that have not been examined together: the value of the imports for the battlefield and the intensity of the war. These two factors influence the willingness of belligerents to reprioritize their import preferences based on strategic considerations. However, they also influence exporters’ willingness to signal their dissatisfaction, as well as the extent of the damage to the belligerent’s economy. To test this contention, we classified 96 commodities as strategic or nonstrategic using the HS02 classification, and then employed gravity models to analyze dyadic import flows from 168 countries to Israel between 1980 and 2014. The findings reveal that the relationship between war and imports varies with the intensity of the conflict. Strategic commodities are associated with a stronger positive relationship between war and imports when the intensity of the conflict does not exceed 1,000 casualties. In contrast, when casualties surpass 1,000, war is associated with a sharper decline in strategic imports, suggestive of economic damage and exporters’ dissatisfaction with war.

Journal Impact Factor	1.2	2024, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2025)
5-year Journal Impact Factor	1.0	2024, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2025)
Journal Citation Indicator	0.74	2024, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2025)
CiteScore	2.8	2024, Scopus (Elsevier B.V., 2025)
SCImago Journal Rank	0.436	2024, SJR (Scimago Lab, 2025; Data Source: Scopus)
Source Normalized Impact per Paper	0.765	2024, CWTS Journal Indicators (CWTS B.V., 2025; Data Source: Scopus)

Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy

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