This is an examination of the interaction between economics and national security, which explores why the area of security studies has long been neglected by economists, even though defence and wartime expenditures regularly consume large portions of government income. The contributors demonstrate that the history of the relationship between economics and national security is far richer than previously thought. As a point of departure, the authors begin with the broad question of economists' neglect of national security and proceed to develop a series of hypotheses about why economists disengaged from this important collection of policy-relevant topics. The essays examine a number of traditions in economics (classicism, neo-classicism, Marxism) as well as the ideas of individual thinkers (Pareto, Pigou, Veblen, Hitler, Rostow).