IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/defpea/v17y2006i3p177-199.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Defense R&D In The Anti-Terrorist Era

Author

Listed:
  • Manuel Trajtenberg

Abstract

This paper analyzes the terrorist threat following 9/11, and explores its implications for defense R&D. First, it reviews the composition of defense R&D since 9/11: big weapon systems still command 30% of defense R&D spending (legacy of the Cold War), vis-a-vis just about 13% for intelligence and anti-terrorism. The second part examines the nature of the terrorist threat, and develops a simple model of terrorism, cast in a nested discrete choice framework. Two strategies are considered: fighting terrorism at its source, and protecting individual targets, which entails a negative externality. Intelligence emerges as the key aspect of the war against terrorism and, accordingly, R&D aimed at enhancing intelligence capabilities is viewed as the cornerstone of defense R&D.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuel Trajtenberg, 2006. "Defense R&D In The Anti-Terrorist Era," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 177-199.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:defpea:v:17:y:2006:i:3:p:177-199
    DOI: 10.1080/10242690600645076
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10242690600645076
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/10242690600645076?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benny Mantin & Asher Tishler, 2004. "The structure of the defense industry and the security needs of the country: a differentiated products model," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(5), pages 397-419.
    2. Kobi Kagan & Asher Tishler & Avi Weiss, 2005. "On The Use Of Terror Weapons Versus Modern Weapon Systems In An Arms Race Between Developed And Less Developed Countries," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(5), pages 331-346.
    3. Cowan, Robin & Foray, Dominique, 1995. "Quandaries in the economics of dual technologies and spillovers from military to civilian research and development," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 851-868, November.
    4. Manuel Trajtenberg, 2006. "Defense R&D In The Anti-Terrorist Era," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 177-199.
    5. Kenneth Arrow, 1962. "Economic Welfare and the Allocation of Resources for Invention," NBER Chapters, in: The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors, pages 609-626, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Ian Ayres & Steven D. Levitt, 1998. "Measuring Positive Externalities from Unobservable Victim Precaution: An Empirical Analysis of Lojack," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(1), pages 43-77.
    7. Molas-Gallart, Jordi, 1997. "Which way to go? Defence technology and the diversity of 'dual-use' technology transfer," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 367-385, October.
    8. Manuel Trajtenberg, 2004. "Crafting Defense R&D Policy in the Anti-Terrorist Era," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 4, pages 1-34, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. B. Peter Rosendorff & Todd Sandler, 2005. "The Political Economy of Transnational Terrorism," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 49(2), pages 171-182, April.
    10. Lichtenberg, Frank R., 1995. "Economics of defense R&D," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 15, pages 431-457, Elsevier.
    11. Enders, Walter & Sandler, Todd, 1995. "Terrorism: Theory and applications," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 9, pages 213-249, Elsevier.
    12. Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), 1995. "Handbook of Defense Economics," Handbook of Defense Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Oren Setter & Asher Tishler, 2006. "A Brave Leap Or A Gradual Climb? The Dynamics Of Investment In R&D Of Integrative Technologies," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 201-222.
    2. Hausken, Kjell & Bier, Vicki M., 2011. "Defending against multiple different attackers," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 211(2), pages 370-384, June.
    3. Konstantinos Sioumalas-Christodoulou, 2021. "Exploring the Intellectual Capital of a High Tech Industry: A Case Study of the Scientific Outputs of Defence Firms," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 11(3), pages 69-85.
    4. Kjell Hausken & Jun Zhuang, 2011. "Governments' and Terrorists' Defense and Attack in a T -Period Game," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 8(1), pages 46-70, March.
    5. Hart, David M., 2009. "Accounting for change in national systems of innovation: A friendly critique based on the U.S. case," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 647-654, May.
    6. Manuel Trajtenberg, 2006. "Defense R&D In The Anti-Terrorist Era," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 177-199.
    7. Berman, Eli & Laitin, David D., 2008. "Religion, terrorism and public goods: Testing the club model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(10-11), pages 1942-1967, October.
    8. Jenelius, Erik & Westin, Jonas & Holmgren, Åke J., 2010. "Critical infrastructure protection under imperfect attacker perception," International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 16-26.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manuel Trajtenberg, 2004. "Crafting Defense R&D Policy in the Anti-Terrorist Era," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 4, pages 1-34, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Manuel Trajtenberg, 2003. "Defense R&D Policy in the Anti-terrorist Era," NBER Working Papers 9725, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Renaud Bellais, 1999. "Defense R&D and information technology in a long-term perspective la rd militaire et les technologies de l'information en longue période," Working Papers 28, Laboratoire de Recherche sur l'Industrie et l'Innovation. ULCO / Research Unit on Industry and Innovation.
    4. Renaud Bellais, 2013. "Technology and the defense industry: real threats, bad habits, or new (market) opportunities?," Post-Print hal-00947395, HAL.
    5. Bo Kyeong Lee & So Young Sohn, 2017. "Exploring the effect of dual use on the value of military technology patents based on the renewal decision," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(3), pages 1203-1227, September.
    6. Llussá, Fernanda & Tavares, José, 2011. "Which terror at which cost? On the economic consequences of terrorist attacks," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 52-55, January.
    7. Jacques Fontanel, 2004. "Le coût du terrorisme," Post-Print hal-02080669, HAL.
    8. Christophe Muller & Pierre Pecher, 2021. "Terrorism, Insurgency, State Repression, and Cycles of Violence," Working Papers halshs-03134347, HAL.
    9. Walter Enders & Todd Sandler, 2000. "Is Transnational Terrorism Becoming More Threatening?," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 44(3), pages 307-332, June.
    10. Bruno S. Frey & Simon Luechinger & Alois Stutzer, 2007. "Calculating Tragedy: Assessing The Costs Of Terrorism," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 1-24, February.
    11. Gholz, Eugene & James, Andrew D. & Speller, Thomas H., 2018. "The second face of systems integration: An empirical analysis of supply chains to complex product systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1478-1494.
    12. Kulve, Haico te & Smit, Wim A., 2003. "Civilian-military co-operation strategies in developing new technologies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 955-970, June.
    13. Andrew James, 2006. "The Transatlantic Defence R&D Gap: Causes, Consequences And Controversies," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 223-238.
    14. Gianluca Pallante & Emanuele Russo & Andrea Roventini, 2020. "Does mission-oriented funding stimulate private R&D? Evidence from military R&D for US states," Working Papers hal-04097530, HAL.
    15. Angus C. Chu & Ching-Chong Lai, 2012. "On the Growth and Welfare Effects of Defense R&D," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 14(3), pages 473-492, June.
    16. Walter Enders & Todd Sandler, 2005. "Transnational Terrorism 1968‐2000: Thresholds, Persistence, and Forecasts," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(3), pages 467-482, January.
    17. Giovanni Immordino & Gülen Karakoç & Salvatore Piccolo, 2018. "Terrorism, Counterterrorism and Optimal Striking Rules," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 69(6), pages 961-984.
    18. Charles Anderton & John Carter, 2005. "On Rational Choice Theory And The Study Of Terrorism," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 275-282.
    19. Manuel Acosta & Daniel Coronado & Rosario Marin, 2011. "Potential Dual-Use Of Military Technology: Does Citing Patents Shed Light On This Process?," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 335-349.
    20. Bruno S. Frey & Simon Luechinger, 2005. "Measuring terrorism," Chapters, in: Alain Marciano & Jean-Michel Josselin (ed.), Law and the State, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Terrorism; Defense R&D; Public goods; Intelligence; Dual-use;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:defpea:v:17:y:2006:i:3:p:177-199. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/GDPE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.