MODELS OF MILITARY EXPENDITURE AND GROWTH: A CRITICAL REVIEW

John Dunne, Ronald Smith and Dirk Willenbockel

Defence and Peace Economics, 2005, vol. 16, issue 6, 449-461

Abstract: This paper reviews some of the theoretical and econometric issues involved in estimating growth models that include military spending. While the mainstream growth literature has not found military expenditure to be a significant determinant of growth, much of the defence economics literature has found significant effects. The paper argues that this is largely the product of the particular specification, the Feder-Ram model, that has been used in the defence economics literature but not in the mainstream literature. The paper critically evaluates this model, detailing its problems and limitations and suggests that it should be avoided. It also critically evaluates two alternative theoretical approaches, the Augmented Solow and the Barro models, suggesting that they provide a more promising avenue for future research. It concludes with some general comments about modelling the links between military expenditure and growth.

Keywords: Military expenditure; Defence spending; Growth (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (255)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10242690500167791 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Models of Military Expenditure and Growth: A Critical Review (2004)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:defpea:v:16:y:2005:i:6:p:449-461

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/GDPE20

DOI: 10.1080/10242690500167791

Access Statistics for this article

Defence and Peace Economics is currently edited by Professor Keith Hartley

More articles in Defence and Peace Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().