Economic interventions are a key component of stability operations. But they have proven challenging for the U.S. military to both implement and evaluate under conditions of state fragility and conflict. As a shaping operation,  so-called ‘tactical economics’ can enable military units to shape security environments and consolidate gains in pursuit of sustainable outcomes. However, as Jonathan Bate argues in this MWI Report, they require careful targeting, design, implementation, and evaluation.

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Major Jonathan Bate is an Instructor of Economics in the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is an infantry officer with ten years of service and three combat deployments to southern and eastern Afghanistan. The views in this report are his own.