IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/epc/journl/v7y2012i2p41-49.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analyzing the costs of military engagement

Author

Listed:
  • Olaf J. de Groot

    (DIW, Berlin)

Abstract

Analyzing governments’ expenditure when it comes to military engagement is a challenging task. As governments are neither transparent nor eager to come forward with the necessary information, researchers make a lot of assumptions that require extensive justification. This article details a range of relevant cost channels and describes the difficulties in estimating their respective sizes. But when worked-up in a careful and deliberate way, it is possible to obtain reasonable estimates of the budgetary effects of military engagements. Following the outlined methodology creates an opportunity to improve openness, which will benefit researchers, policymakers, and the public at large.

Suggested Citation

  • Olaf J. de Groot, 2012. "Analyzing the costs of military engagement," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, EPS Publishing, vol. 7(2), pages 41-49, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:epc:journl:v:7:y:2012:i:2:p:41-49
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.epsjournal.org.uk/index.php/EPSJ/article/view/142
    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. Olaf J. de Groot & Tilman Brück & Carlos Bozzoli, 2009. "How Many Bucks in a Bang: On the Estimation of the Economic Costs of Conflict," Economics of Security Working Paper Series 21, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Jurgen Brauer, 1991. "Perspective," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 54-58, May.
    3. William D. Nordhaus, 2002. "The Economic Consequences of a War with Iraq," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1387, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    4. Michael Brzoska, 1981. "The Reporting of Military Expenditures," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 18(3), pages 261-275, September.
    5. Alberto Abadie & Javier Gardeazabal, 2003. "The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 113-132, March.
    6. Paul Collier & Anke Hoeffler, 2006. "Military expenditure in post-conflict societies," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 89-107, January.
    7. Spengler, Hannes, 2009. "Kompensatorische Lohndifferenziale und der Wert eines statistischen Lebens in Deutschland," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 77423, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    8. Torsten Persson & Guido Tabellini, 2002. "Political Economics: Explaining Economic Policy," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262661314, December.
    9. Tilman Brück & Olaf J. de Groot & Friedrich Schneider, 2010. "Eine erste Schätzung der wirtschaftlichen Kosten der deutschen Beteiligung am Krieg in Afghanistan," DIW Wochenbericht, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 77(21), pages 2-11.
    10. repec:hic:wpaper:199 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Ryan D. Edwards, 2010. "A Review of War Costs in Iraq and Afghanistan," NBER Working Papers 16163, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Eric S. Lin & Hamid E. Ali, 2009. "Military Spending and Inequality: Panel Granger Causality Test," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 46(5), pages 671-685, September.
    13. Syed Mansoob Murshed & Dawood Mamoon, 2010. "Not loving thy neighbour as thyself: Trade, democracy and military expenditure explanations underlying India—Pakistan rivalry," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 47(4), pages 463-476, July.
    14. Spengler, Hannes, 2004. "Kompensatorische Lohndifferenziale und der Wert eines statistischen Lebens in Deutschland," Darmstadt Discussion Papers in Economics 133, Darmstadt University of Technology, Department of Law and Economics.
    15. Russell Smyth & Paresh Kumar Narayan, 2009. "A Panel Data Analysis of the Military Expenditure-External Debt Nexus: Evidence from Six Middle Eastern Countries," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 46(2), pages 235-250, March.
    16. Paul Collier & Anke Hoeffler, 2004. "Military Expenditure in Post-Conflict Societies," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2004-13, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    17. Spengler, Hannes, 2004. "Kompensatorische Lohndifferenziale und der Wert eines statistischen Lebens in Deutschland," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 37281, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    18. Alt, James E. & Lassen, David Dreyer, 2006. "Fiscal transparency, political parties, and debt in OECD countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(6), pages 1403-1439, August.
    19. Bram De Brabander & Lode Vereeck, 2007. "Valuing the Prevention of Road Accidents in Belgium," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(6), pages 715-732, February.
    20. William D. Nordhaus, 2002. "The Economic Consequences of a War in Iraq," NBER Working Papers 9361, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Rafael Reuveny & Andreea S Mihalache-O'Keef & Quan Li, 2010. "The effect of warfare on the environment," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 47(6), pages 749-761, November.
    22. Spengler, Hannes, 2004. "Kompensatorische Lohndifferenziale und dr Wert eines statistischen Lebens in Deutschland," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 22615, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    23. J. Paul Dunne & Ron Smith & Dirk Willenbockel, 2005. "Models Of Military Expenditure And Growth: A Critical Review," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(6), pages 449-461.
    24. Linda Bilmes, 2006. "The Economic Costs of the Iraq War: An Appraisal Three Years After the Beginning of the Conflict," Working Papers id:387, eSocialSciences.
    25. Olaf J de Groot & Carlos Bozzoli & Anousheh Alamir & Tilman Brück, 2022. "The global economic burden of violent conflict," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 59(2), pages 259-276, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Tilman Brück & Olaf J de Groot & Friedrich Schneider, 2011. "The economic costs of the German participation in the Afghanistan war," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 48(6), pages 793-805, November.
    2. Bove Vincenzo & Elia Leandro, 2014. "The impact of American and British involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq on health spending, military spending and economic growth," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 325-339, January.
    3. Entorf, Horst & Meyer, Susanne & Möbert, Jochen & Spengler, Hannes, 2005. "Sparzwang und Kriminalitätsrisiko: Gibt es Zusammenhänge? Offene Fragen, und erste Ergebnisse aus einem Forschungsprojekt," ZEW Discussion Papers 05-24, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Dietmar Borst & Ute Werner, 2009. "Schätzung des Risikos der Bevölkerung durch Terroranschläge als Ergänzung für sicherheitsökonomische Betrachtungen," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 78(4), pages 101-118.
    5. Daniel Johnson & Judith Exl & Sylvie Geisendorf, 2021. "The Potential of Stormwater Management in Addressing the Urban Heat Island Effect: An Economic Valuation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    6. Bove, Vincenzo & Nisticò, Roberto, 2014. "Military in politics and budgetary allocations," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 1065-1078.
    7. Entorf, Horst, 2008. "Wirkung und Effizienz von Strafrecht: "Was geht?" - bei jungen Gewalttätern?," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-056, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Olaf J. de Groot & Tilman Brück & Carlos Bozzoli, 2009. "How Many Bucks in a Bang: On the Estimation of the Economic Costs of Conflict," Economics of Security Working Paper Series 21, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Entorf, Horst, 2005. "Islamistischer Terrorismus : Analysen, Entwicklungen und Anti-Terrorpolitik aus der Sicht ökonomischer Forschung," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 24551, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    10. Joseph Mawejje & Patrick McSharry, 2021. "The economic cost of conflict: Evidence from South Sudan," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 1969-1990, November.
    11. Vincenzo Bove & Jennifer Brauner, 2016. "The demand for military expenditure in authoritarian regimes," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(5), pages 609-625, September.
    12. Stergios Skaperdas, 2011. "The costs of organized violence: a review of the evidence," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, March.
    13. Entorf, Horst, 2007. "Evaluation des Maßregelvollzugs: Grundzüge einer Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 35718, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    14. Kamin, Katrin, 2022. "Bilateral trade and conflict heterogeneity: The impact of conflict on trade revisited," Kiel Working Papers 2222, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    15. Julia Bluszcz & Marica Valente, 2022. "The Economic Costs of Hybrid Wars: The Case of Ukraine," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 1-25, January.
    16. repec:zbw:rwirep:0014 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Michael Ben-Gad & Yakov Ben-Haim & Dan Peled, 2020. "Allocating Security Expenditures under Knightian Uncertainty: An Info-Gap Approach," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(7), pages 830-850, October.
    18. Ryan D. Edwards, 2010. "A Review of War Costs in Iraq and Afghanistan," NBER Working Papers 16163, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Jeffrey R. Gerlach & Youngsuk Yook, 2016. "Political Conflict and Foreign Portfolio Investment : Evidence from North Korean Attacks," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2016-037, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    20. Spengler, Hannes & Schaffner, Sandra, 2007. "Using Job Changes to Evaluate the Bias of the Value of a Statistical Life," Ruhr Economic Papers 14, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    21. Gerlach, Jeffrey R. & Yook, Youngsuk, 2016. "Political conflict and foreign portfolio investment: Evidence from North Korean attacks," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 178-196.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Conflict; costs; military engagement;
    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:7:y:2012:i:2:p:41-49. 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.