Is It Costly to Them?

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"It's very early days to make a conclusion like that. What i do know is that the russian people are really good at making very large sacrifices of human beings for war aims" "No democracy tends toiss generaly fought another democracy, ah, in war," he says. 'And one reason for that is because these leaders are more accountable'

It's tempting to explain Russia's invasion of Ukraine with Putin's megalomania. Economist Chris Blattman of the University of Chicago talks about his book Why We Fight with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Blattman explains why only a fraction of rivalries ever erupt into violence, the five main reasons adversaries can't arrive at compromise, and the problem with trying to get into Putin's head (and why it's not all about Putin. Really).