korrents
Brad DeLong

What Brad DeLong thinks about war

@brad-delong · 59 positions · 0 changes of mind

Economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury. Author of Slouching Towards Utopia and writer of the Grasping Reality newsletter.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

Brad DeLong did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

4 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Brad DeLong has said — not written or endorsed by them.

4 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

The line under a date shows how recently it was said: empty within a month, full after three years.

  1. Our readingThe An Lushan rebellion may have caused China's ruling elite to prioritize internal stability over military strength, potentially hindering its ability to lead the Industrial Revolution.

    China

    Their wordsHaving survived, its governing élite and state apparatus spent the next thousand years arranging its institutions so that no imperial general could ever successfully such a thing again. That arrangement kept the emperors and their courts relatively safe. It may also have cost Chinese civilization the ability to lead the Industrial Revolution.

    ↗Did a Fat, Laughing Barbarian General Divert the Industrial Revolution Away from China a Thousand Years After His Death?braddelong.substack.com

  2. 4 days earlier

  3. Our readingRepublican foreign policy is systematically bad due to inattention to the risks of hawkishness.

    Their wordsBut… Republicans have systematically bad foreign policy that is inattentive to the downside risk of saber-rattling and hawkishness….

    ↗Real Price of Diesel: CHART OF THE DAYbraddelong.substack.com

  4. 5 days earlier

  5. Our readingThe US war on Iran ended up delivering Osama bin Laden's original strategic goal of ending American military presence in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula

    America

    Their wordsOsama bin Laden's one concrete strategic goal was to end the American military presence in the Gulf and on the Arabian Peninsula. A generation later, Donald Trump's war on Iran has apparently delivered it for him

    ↗(SEMI-)CROSSPOST: RICK PERLSTEIN: Bush’s War Is Finally Over: Al Qaeda Has Wonbraddelong.substack.com

  7. Our readingIn a conflict, a coherent weaker actor tends to prevail over an incoherent stronger one.

    Their wordsIn a contest between a coherent weak actor and an incoherent strong one, bet on coherence.

    ↗CROSSPOST: SPENCER ACKERMAN: Fanute The Houthi Coupbraddelong.substack.com 1st of 3 in this piece

How recent

The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.

Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.