Rethinking Westward Expansion

There’s a common argument that the Alaska purchase was a steal since we bought it for $7.2 million and its GDP today is $45 billion today. Well an economist says this claim is false. According to David Barker, the U.S. would feel the same economic benefits if Alaska was part of Great Britain or Canada. He also notes the larger implications of considering this question:

The results of this paper suggest new lines of inquiry in the history of the West, such as: Has westward expansion been worth the price? What have been the costs and benefits? Should expansion have been less or greater than it was? Should United States expansion continue? Should the United States shrink by cutting ties with its remaining possessions? All of these questions seem worthy of future research.

Read the paper here. Barker’s report got me wondering, if the U.S. didn’t have Alaska, would we have such major cinematic masterpieces as Alaska? That movie in itself makes the purchase a success!

–Daniel Strauss

(h/t: Alex Tabarrok)