IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/epc/journl/v11y2016i1p12-17.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The evolution of concentration in the arms market

Author

Listed:
  • J. Paul Dunne

    (Department of Economics, University of Cape Town, South Africa)

  • Ron P. Smith

    (Economics, Department of Economics, Mathematics, and Statistics, Birkbeck College, University of London)

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of concentration in the global arms market, or industry, over the period 1990-2013 and considers its prospects. Using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) list of the largest 100 arms producing firms, it finds that within the international arms industry, there has been change but also continuity, particularly in the nature of the markets and the relations between the main producers and governments. While the changes that have taken place are important, it is still political rather than economic logic that shapes the evolution of the market. Certainly the arms industry remains relatively unconcentrated compared to other industries probably because of the domestic preferences in procurement by national governments. Countries do not like monopoly arms producers, but there is no western country other than the United States that can currently support more than one competitor, although in the near future Russia could and China may provide serious international competition to the U.S. What is clear is that there are economic forces pushing for increased competition, but the final outcome will be determined by political forces, and transparency and governance will become increasingly important issues.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Paul Dunne & Ron P. Smith, 2016. "The evolution of concentration in the arms market," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, EPS Publishing, vol. 11(1), pages 12-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:epc:journl:v:11:y:2016:i:1:p:12-17
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.epsjournal.org.uk/index.php/EPSJ/article/view/242
    Download Restriction: Open access 24 months after original publication.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xavier Gabaix, 2016. "Power Laws in Economics: An Introduction," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(1), pages 185-206, Winter.
    2. Hartley, Keith, 2007. "The Arms Industry, Procurement and Industrial Policies," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 33, pages 1139-1176, Elsevier.
    3. Dunne, J. Paul, 1995. "The defense industrial base," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 14, pages 399-430, Elsevier.
    4. Sandler,Todd & Hartley,Keith, 1995. "The Economics of Defense," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521447287, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. J. Paul Dunne, 2017. "War, peace, and development," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, EPS Publishing, vol. 12(2), pages 21-31, October.
    2. Klomp, Jeroen, 2024. "Targeting profits: The economic impact of arms embargoes on defense companies," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 391-416.
    3. Brauer Jurgen, 2017. "‘Of the Expence of Defence’: What Has Changed Since Adam Smith?," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 23(2), pages 1-14, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Economou, Emmanouel/Marios/Lazaros & Metaxas, Theodore, 2011. "EU and US security policy from the cold war era to the 21st century: the institutional evolution of cfsp and the factors that determine the American military supremacy," MPRA Paper 41003, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2011.
    2. Renaud Bellais & Martial Foucault & Jean-Michel Oudot, 2014. "Économie de la défense," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-01052607, HAL.
    3. Coyne,Christopher J., 2020. "Defense, Peace, and War Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108724036, January.
    4. Hall Abigail R., 2015. "Drones: Public Interest, Public Choice, and the Expansion of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(2), pages 273-300, April.
    5. J Paul Dunne & Maria Garcia Alonso & Paul Levine & Ron Smith, 2003. "Concentration in the International Arms Industry¤," Working Papers 0301, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    6. Carlos Pestana Barros, 2002. "Small countries and the consolidation of the European defence industry: Portugal as a case study," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 311-319.
    7. Jean Belin & Marianne Guille, 2008. "Defence and firm financial structure in France," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 46-61.
    8. Joaquim José Martins Guilhoto & Paulo César Morceiro, Milene Simone Tessarin, 2016. "Productive Complex of Defense and Security in Brazil: dimension, sectoral and technological impacts," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2016_28, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    9. Paul Dunne & Richard Haines, 2005. "Transformation or Stagnation? The South African Defence Industry in the early 21st Century," Working Papers 0514, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    10. Susan J. Guthrie & Hines, James R. Jr., 2011. "U.S. DEFENSE CONTRACTS DURING the TAX EXPENDITURE BATTLES of the 1980s," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 64(2), pages 731-751, June.
    11. Jurgen Brauer & J Paul Dunne, 2005. "Arms Trade Offsets and Development," Working Papers 0504, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    12. Marcus Matthias Keupp, 2021. "Effectiveness of Military Performance," Springer Books, in: Defense Economics, chapter 0, pages 67-91, Springer.
    13. J Paul Dunne & Fanny Coulomb, 2008. "Peace, War and International Security: Economic Theories," Working Papers 0803, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    14. Christopher J. Coyne & Courtney Michaluk & Rachel Reese, 2016. "Unproductive entrepreneurship in US military contracting," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(2), pages 221-239, August.
    15. J Paul Dunne & Elisabeth Skons, 2011. "The Changing Military Industrial Complex," Working Papers 1104, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    16. Christopher Coyne & Abigail Hall, 2014. "The Case Against a U.S.-Arms Monopoly," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 42(2), pages 181-190, June.
    17. J Paul Dunne, 2011. "Military Keynesianism: An Assessment," Working Papers 1106, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    18. Christopher Coyne, 2015. "Lobotomizing the defense brain," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 371-396, December.
    19. Duncan Thomas K. & Coyne Christopher J., 2015. "The Revolving Door and the Entrenchment of the Permanent War Economy," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(3), pages 391-413, August.
    20. Robert MacCulloch & Silvia Pezzini, 2010. "The Roles of Freedom, Growth, and Religion in the Taste for Revolution," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(2), pages 329-358, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Arms market; firm concentration; defense industry;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:epc:journl:v:11:y:2016:i:1:p:12-17. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael Brown, Managing Editor, EPSJ (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecaarea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.