Arms trade, arms control, and security: Collective action issues

This article puts forth collection action as a unifying theme for the confe rence essays on arms trade, control, and production. For each of these topi cs, collective action failures are related to group size and group composit ion considerations. Other issues are also examined including the manner in which individual contributions determine the overall level of the associate d collective good - the so-called aggregation technology of public supply. Based on alternative aggregation technologies, the game-theoretic underpinn ings of these arms issues are explored.