Nobel Prize Economist Puts Long Term Costs of Iraq War at $7 Trillion (Merged)

Nobel Prize Economist Puts Long Term Costs of Iraq War at $7 Trillion (Merged)

Iraq war hits U.S. economy: Nobel winner

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Iraq war has contributed to the U.S. economic slowdown and is impeding an economic recovery, Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says.

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Meanwhile, the U.S. government is severely underestimating the cost of the war, Stiglitz and co-author Linda Bilmes write in their book, "The Three Trillion Dollar War" (W.W. Norton), due to be published on Monday.

The nearly 5-year-old war, once billed as virtually paying for itself through increased Iraqi oil exports, has cost the U.S. Treasury $845 billion directly.

"It used to be thought that wars are good for the economy. No economist really believes that anymore," Stiglitz said in an interview.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/usa_economy_iraq_dc;_ylt=AhA5macAJPYGxj8uk50OdYUDW7oF

To illustrate how the money could be spent elsewhere, Bilmes cited the annual U.S. budget for autism research -- $108 million -- which is spent every four hours in Iraq. A trillion dollars could have hired 15 million additional public school teachers for a year or provided 43 million students with four-year scholarships to public universities, the book says.