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Defence Outlays Across Countries: Are They Converging?

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  • Ramesh Chandra Das
  • Soumyananda Dinda
  • Frank Martin

Abstract

Although the countries in the present world are staying away from formal wars like that of the First and the Second World Wars, still there has been persistence of informal wars among countries. The countries are now observed to be investing upon defence items in a larger way. The so-called backward countries are coming in a strong way in terms of increasing defence outlays and trying to catch up with the advanced countries in possessing military items. The present article, thus, tries to study whether the countries are converging in terms of per capita military expenses across a selection of 45 countries for the period 1988–2013. It reveals that there are absolute β and σ convergence among the countries with Kuwait and South Africa as outlier countries. It also observes conditional β convergence among the countries with various resources, particularly, crude oil production, regional dummies and time trend as significant conditional variables. JEL: H56, O47, C13, O50

Suggested Citation

  • Ramesh Chandra Das & Soumyananda Dinda & Frank Martin, 2018. "Defence Outlays Across Countries: Are They Converging?," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 7(1), pages 109-129, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:smppub:v:7:y:2018:i:1:p:109-129
    DOI: 10.1177/2277978718760072
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Saba Charles Shaaba, 2021. "Convergence or Divergence Patterns in Global Defence Spending: Further Evidence from a Nonlinear Single Factor Model," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 27(1), pages 51-90, February.
    2. Ucler, Gulbahar & Bulut, Umit, 2021. "Re-examination of the Convergence in Military Expenditures across NATO Countries: Do Different Approximations in Modelling Structural Breaks Matter?," Asian Journal of Applied Economics, Kasetsart University, Center for Applied Economics Research, vol. 28(1).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Military expenditure; world war; Cold war; absolute β convergence; conditional β convergence; σ convergence; regression; developed countries; developing countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • C13 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Estimation: General
    • O50 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - General

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