Economists for Ukraine

Working Paper Series

Editorial Committee: Tatyana Deryugina, Anastassia Fedyk, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, James Hodson, and Ilona Sologoub
Submit papers here

Economists for Ukraine are launching a new working paper series on Ukraine-related issues. The initiative aims to disseminate and promote research, build research networks, and  inform policymakers on matters regarding Ukraine. 

The format and process will largely follow leading working series such as NBER WP and CEPR DP. The editorial committee will review submissions for falling within the scope of the series and for meeting basic quality standards. Submissions can be in either English or Ukrainian (with a non-technical summary in English). There is no submission fee. All papers must be original, but publishing papers in the series does not preclude the authors from publishing their work elsewhere. 

Papers accepted into the series gain visibility and targeted exposure. Each paper will be shared on our website and mailing list, directly reaching our membership and subscribers. We also promote new papers on social media, reaching a readership especially interested in Ukraine-related research—including scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. 

Abstract

After three years of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, what is the total value of U.S. economic and military support for Ukraine? The U.S. Government on various occasions has claimed that the United States has spent upwards of $350B to sustain Ukraine’s military efforts and fiscal budget. Open source trackers place the contribution at around $125B based on announcements and Congressional releases. We find that the true value of assistance delivered to Ukraine in the first three years of war has been much closer to $50 billion. The impact on domestic spending capacity and on the US Defense budget has been negligible, at roughly $11 per taxpayer per year.

Citation

Fedyk, A., Hodson, J., Marshall, E., Gorodnichenko, Y., Deryugina, T., & Sologoub, I. (2025). A HIMARS in the hand is worth two in the bush: Measuring the real economic value of U.S. support for Ukraine (Working Paper No. 1). Economists for Ukraine. https://econ4ua.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Econ4UA-Working-Paper-No1.pdf

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