Depression, war, and cold war : studies in political economy / by Robert Higgs.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Regime uncertainty : why the great depression lasted so long and why prosperity resumed after the war -- Private profit, public risk : institutional antecedents of the modern military procurement system in the rearmament program of 1940-1941 -- Wartime prosperity? a reassessment of the U.S. economy in the 1940s -- Wartime socialization of investment : a reassessment of U.S. capital formation in the 1940s -- From central planning to the market : the American transition, 1945-1947 -- The cold war economy : opportunity costs, ideology, and the politics of crisis -- Hard coals make bad law : congressional parochialism versus national defense -- Airplanes the Pentagon didn't want, but Congress did -- Profits of U.S. defense contractors -- Public opinion : a powerful predictor of U.S. defense spending.