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Military Expenditures And Inequality In The Middle East And North Africa: A Panel Analysis

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  • Hamid E. Ali

Abstract

Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries have been characterized by the preponderant role of their military forces in economic matters, as demonstrated by the high levels of military spending and the growing industrial complex. While extensive research examines the relationship between military expenditure and economic growth, little attention has been paid to the effect of military expenditure on economic inequality. Studying inequality in MENA countries provides an opportunity to assess factors that shape the countries’ level of economic well-being, which has greater public policy implications in terms of how society allocates its scarce resources among competing needs. This paper examines two important issues. In the first part of the paper, we examine the relationship between military spending and inequality in MENA countries using a panel regression for country-level observations over the period 1987--2005. The empirical results indicate that military spending has a strong and negative effect on inequality. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, in MENA countries a systematic increase in military spending could reduce the level of inequality. In the second part of this paper, we examine the demand for military expenditure; we find that factors such as inequality level and per capita income negatively affect military expenditure.

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  • Hamid E. Ali, 2012. "Military Expenditures And Inequality In The Middle East And North Africa: A Panel Analysis," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 575-589, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:defpea:v:23:y:2012:i:6:p:575-589
    DOI: 10.1080/10242694.2012.663578
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    Cited by:

    1. Chletsos Michael & Roupakias Stelios, 2020. "The effect of military spending on income inequality: evidence from NATO countries," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1305-1337, March.
    2. Arshian Sharif & Sahar Afshan, 2018. "Does Military Spending Impede Income Inequality? A Comparative Study of Pakistan and India," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(2), pages 257-279, April.
    3. Töngür, Ünal & Hsu, Sara & Elveren, Adem Yavuz, 2015. "Military expenditures and political regimes: Evidence from global data, 1963–2000," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 68-79.
    4. Antonella Biscione & Raul Caruso, 2021. "Military Expenditures and Income Inequality Evidence from a Panel of Transition Countries (1990-2015)," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 46-67, January.
    5. Syed Ali Raza & Muhammad Shahbaz & Sudharshan Reddy Paramati, 2017. "Dynamics of Military Expenditure and Income Inequality in Pakistan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 1035-1055, April.
    6. Manuchehr Irandoust, 2018. "Militarism and globalization: Is there an empirical link?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 1349-1369, May.
    7. Caruso Raul & Antonella Biscione, 2022. "Militarization and Income Inequality in European Countries (2000–2017)," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 28(3), pages 267-285, September.
    8. 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.
    9. Biyase, Mduduzi & Eita, Hinaunye & Udimal, Thomas & Zwane, Talent, 2022. "Military Spending and Inequality in South Africa: An ARDL Bound Testing Approach to Cointegration," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 75(2), pages 241-268.
    10. Adam Coutts & Adel Daoud & Ali Fakih & Walid Marrouch & Bernhard Reinsberg, 2019. "Guns and butter? Military expenditure and health spending on the eve of the Arab Spring," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(2), pages 227-237, February.
    11. İbrahim Sezer Belliler, 2023. "Convergence of Military Expenditures in MENA Countries: Evidences from a Fourier Panel Unit Root Test with Multiple Breaks," EKOIST Journal of Econometrics and Statistics, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(39), pages 183-199, December.
    12. Unal Tongur & Sara Hsu & Adem Yavuz Elveren, 2013. "Military Expenditures and Political Regimes: An Analysis Using Global Data, 1963-2001," ERC Working Papers 1307, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Jul 2013.
    13. Unal Tongur & Adem Yavuz Elveren, 2012. "Military Expenditures, Inequality, and Welfare and Political Regimes: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis," ERC Working Papers 1210, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Dec 2012.
    14. Adem Yavuz Elveren & Ünal Töngür & Tristian Myers, 2023. "Military spending and economic growth: A post-Keynesian model," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, EPS Publishing, vol. 18(2), pages 51-65, October.
    15. Ali Hamid E., 2011. "Military Expenditures and Human Development: Guns and Butter Arguments Revisited: A Case Study from Egypt," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 1-21, September.
    16. Caruso Raul & Antonella Biscione, 2022. "Militarization and Income Inequality in European Countries (2000–2017)," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 28(3), pages 267-285, September.
    17. Muhammad, Shahbaz & Reza, Sherafatian-Jahromi & Muhammad, Nasir Malik, 2012. "Linkages between Defence Spending and Income Inequality in Iran," MPRA Paper 41983, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Oct 2012.
    18. Sudeshna Ghosh, 2022. "Analysing the nexus between income inequality and military expenditure in top ten defence expenditure economies," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 689-712, April.
    19. Hinaunye Eita & Mduduzi Biyase & Thomas Udimal & Talent Zwane, 2022. "Does military spending affect inequality in South Africa? A revisit," Economics Working Papers edwrg-03-2022, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, revised 2022.
    20. Elveren Adem Yavuz & Taşıran Ali Cevat, 2021. "Soft Modeling of Military Expenditure, Income Inequality, and Profit Rate, 1988–2008," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 27(3), pages 405-430, September.
    21. Adem Elveren & Valentine M. Moghadam, 2019. "The impact of militarization on gender inequality and female labor force participation," Working Papers 1307, Economic Research Forum, revised 21 Aug 2019.
    22. Liming Zhao & Liang Zhao & Bing-Fu Chen, 2017. "The interrelationship between defence spending, public expenditures and economic growth: evidence from China," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 703-718, November.

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