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The Defense-Growth Nexus: An Application for the Israeli-Arab Conflict

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  • Aamer Abu-Qarn

    (Department of Economics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)

Abstract

This paper revisits the defence-growth nexus for the rivals of the Israeli-Arab conflict over the last four decades. To this end, we utilize the Toda and Yamamoto (1995) causality test and the generalized variance decomposition. Contrary to the conventional wisdom and many earlier studies, we fail to detect any persistent adverse impact of military expenditures on economic growth. Our conclusions are kept intact even when we account for the possibility of endogenous structural breaks and during the post-1979 peace treaty period. Our findings imply insignificant peace dividends once the conflict is resolved and the military spending is cut to internationally acceptable standards.

Suggested Citation

  • Aamer Abu-Qarn, 2010. "The Defense-Growth Nexus: An Application for the Israeli-Arab Conflict," Working Papers 1003, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bgu:wpaper:1003
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abu-Bader, Suleiman & Abu-Qarn, Aamer S., 2003. "Government expenditures, military spending and economic growth: causality evidence from Egypt, Israel, and Syria," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 25(6-7), pages 567-583, September.
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    5. Joerding, Wayne, 1986. "Economic growth and defense spending : Granger Causality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 35-40, April.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Growth; Middle East; Israeli-Arab conflict; Causality; Generalized Forecast Error Variance Decomposition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

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