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War has two distinct effects on the PPF of a nation. Assuming the homeland of the nation at war were vulnerable to attack the entire PPF would shift inward as factories fell prey to enemy attacks - this was not the case for the US during WWII. WWII did not cause an inward shift of the PPF for the US because the mainland was not subject to attack. Production in the US was subject to the second effect of war on the production of a nation, the productive resources were shifted toward materiel for the war effort. This is not an outward shift of the PPF in any way, it is a movement along the PPF in favor of war machines at the cost of consumer goods. It is this second effect that enables countries to produce more war goods despite shrinking overall productivity than the country did in peace.

To reiterate, you must remember to treat the two effects of war on a nation's PPF separately because they are distinct effects. Changes in the overall PPF are a result of acts of war (e.g. bombing factories) whereas movements along the PPF are the result of being in warfare (i.e. a given factory now produces tanks instead of cars

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12y ago

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