If war is so costly, why do we keep fighting them? We dig into the wars in Iran, Ukraine and Gaza to understand the incentives that lead countries into violence. Today on the show, the five factors that lead to war.  Chris Blattman’s book is <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/636263/why-we-fight-by-christopher-blattman/"target="_blank" >Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace</a>. Fact checking by <a href="https://www.npr.org/people/1268825622/sierra-juarez"target="_blank" >Sierra Juarez</a>.  Your Next Listen — <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/04/29/nx-s1-5803494/the-new-economic-arms-race"target="_blank" >The new economic arms race </a>Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for <a href="https://npr.org/indicatornewsletter"target="_blank" >The Indicator’s brand new newsletter</a> — Buy the <a href="https://lnk.to/i3AukBdDWE"target="_blank" >Planet Money book</a> — Find our <a href="https://linktr.ee/indicator_npr"target="_blank" >socials, YouTube and more</a>! — For sponsor-free episodes, <a href="https://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" >subscribe to NPR+</a>  See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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