James Lawson

James Lawson is a director at Helsing, a defence company, and chairman of the Adam Smith Institute.

The changing economics of war

On 15 September 1916, at Flers-Courcelette, 49 Mark I tanks rolled into no-man’s land. Most broke down. The ones that kept going shocked the German line and took three villages by lunchtime. Douglas Haig wired London for a thousand more. Building armoured vehicles in volume shaped the next century of wars. An even bigger shift