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US Military Spending: A Perspective on the Restructuring Dynamics of the Defense Sector

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  • Eleonora Gentilucci

Abstract

The political economy of defense spending is enormously important given its magnitude and its global implication. Since the late 1990s, world and US military spending has being rising. This trend appears to be in sharp contrast to the long-term forecast about the so-called “peace dividend†formulated after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In order to explain this trend of military expenditures in the United States, the restructuring of the defense sector (in terms of concentration and financialization), the shift from a focus on “defense†to “security,†and the role and influence of “vested interests†in this process leading to the creation of the military-security system, are taken into consideration. The relation between social spending and military expenditures is also discussed. JEL Classification: H56, H5, B5, F52, L16

Suggested Citation

  • Eleonora Gentilucci, 2019. "US Military Spending: A Perspective on the Restructuring Dynamics of the Defense Sector," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 51(4), pages 606-628, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:51:y:2019:i:4:p:606-628
    DOI: 10.1177/0486613419844641
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Malcolm Knight & Norman Loayza & Delano Villanueva, 1996. "The Peace Dividend: Military Spending Cuts and Economic Growth," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 43(1), pages 1-37, March.
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    3. Reich, Michael, 1972. "Does the U.S. Economy Require Military Spending?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(2), pages 296-303, May.
    4. Anton Hemerijck & Frank Vandenbroucke & Torben Andersen & Philippe Pochet & Christophe Degryse & Gaetano Basso & Mathias Dolls & Werner Eichhorst & Thomas Leoni & Andreas Peichl & Peter Taylor-Gooby, 2012. "The welfare state after the great recession," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 47(4), pages 200-229, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Tyler Saxon, 2021. "Military Subsidization of Human Capital and Gender Stratification in the US Economy," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 53(2), pages 250-265, June.
    2. Pelin Akçagün-Narin & Adem Yavuz Elveren, 2024. "Financialization and Militarization: An Empirical Investigation," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 56(1), pages 70-100, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    military expenditures; military-industrial system; military security system; political economy of defense spending; restructuration of the US defense sector;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • B5 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches
    • F52 - International Economics - - International Relations, National Security, and International Political Economy - - - National Security; Economic Nationalism
    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure

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