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Military Burden, Security Needs, and Economic Growth in the Middle East

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  • James H. Lebovic

    (Department of Political Science, George Washington University)

  • Ashfaq Ishaq

    (Department of Economics, George Washington University)

Abstract

Economic theory and existing empirical studies do not unambiguously indicate whether higher military expenditures retard or promote economic growth, nor have there been systematic attempts to discern the sources of military spending to help determine how much of that spending can realistically be reduced. This article examines the theoretical link between military spending and economic growth, explores the domestic and regional causes of this spending, and tests a model incorporating a simultaneous relationship between military spending and economic growth in a pooled time-series cross-sectional analysis on various groupings of Middle Eastern states. While the analysis is shown sensitive to assumptions about causality and the numerous problems of pooled data, the results indicate that higher military spending has suppressed economic growth in the Middle East region even when alternative measures of the military burden are used.

Suggested Citation

  • James H. Lebovic & Ashfaq Ishaq, 1987. "Military Burden, Security Needs, and Economic Growth in the Middle East," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 31(1), pages 106-138, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:31:y:1987:i:1:p:106-138
    DOI: 10.1177/0022002787031001007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jülide Yildirim & Nadir Öcal, 2016. "Military expenditures, economic growth and spatial spillovers," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 87-104, February.
    2. Sajjad. F. Dizaji & Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, 2018. "Do sanctions reduce the military spending in Iran?," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201831, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    3. Rati Ram, 2006. "Defense Expenditure and Economic Growth: Evidence from Cross-Country Panel Data," Chapters, in: Attiat F. Ott & Richard J. Cebula (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Public Economics, chapter 11, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Aamer Abu-qarn, 2010. "The Defence-Growth Nexus Revisited: Evidence From The Israeli-Arab Conflict," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 291-300.
    5. Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza, 2017. "The impact of oil rents on military spending: Does corruption matter?," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168157, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Aamer S. Abu-Qarn, 2008. "Six decades of the Israeli-Arab conflict: An assessment of the economic aspects," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, EPS Publishing, vol. 3(2), pages 8-15, July.
    7. Duygu Yolcu Karadam & Jülide Yildirim & Nadir Öcal, 2017. "Military expenditure and economic growth in Middle Eastern countries and Turkey: a non-linear panel data approach," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 719-730, November.
    8. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Siew Ling Yew, 2018. "The effect of military expenditure on growth: an empirical synthesis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 1357-1387, November.
    9. Paresh Kumar Narayan & Russell Smyth, 2007. "The Military Expenditure-External Debt Nexus: New Evidence From A Panel Of Middle Eastern Countries," Monash Economics Working Papers 17-07, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    10. Thomas Bernauer & Vally Koubi & Fabio Ernst, 2009. "National and Regional Economic Consequences of Swiss Defense Spending," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 46(4), pages 467-484, July.
    11. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, 2014. "Military Spending and Economic Growth: The Case of Iran," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 247-269, June.
    12. Posma Sariguna Johnson Kennedy, 2018. "Financing Defence: The Influence of Defence Budget on National Economic Growth: An Indonesian Case," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, pages 1-5:2.

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