IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/28853.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Military Expenditure and Economic Growth: A Meta-Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Alptekin, Aynur
  • Levine, Paul

Abstract

Meta analysis is conducted to review 32 empirical studies with 169 estimates to find the combined overall effect of military expenditure on economic growth. Using a meta fixed and random effects and regression analysis, our results show that there exists a "genuine" net effect of military expenditure on economic growth. The net combined effect is positive, and the magnitude is very small. The main sources of study-to-study variation in the findings of military expenditure and economic growth literature are attributable to the sample, time periods, and functional forms.

Suggested Citation

  • Alptekin, Aynur & Levine, Paul, 2010. "Military Expenditure and Economic Growth: A Meta-Analysis," MPRA Paper 28853, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:28853
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/28853/1/MPRA_paper_28853.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael D. Stroup & Jac C. Heckelman, 2001. "Size of the Military Sector and Economic Growth: A Panel Data Analysis of Africa and Latin America," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 329-360, November.
    2. Collier, Paul & Hoeffler, Anke, 2002. "Military expenditure - threats, aid, and arms races," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2927, The World Bank.
    3. Biswas, Basudeb & Ram, Rati, 1986. "Military Expenditures and Economic Growth in Less Developed Countries: An Augmented Model and Further Evidence," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(2), pages 361-372, January.
    4. Chan, Steve, 1988. "Defense Burden and Economic Growth: Unraveling the Taiwanese Enigma," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(3), pages 913-920, September.
    5. Landau, Daniel, 1993. "The economic impact of military expenditures," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1138, The World Bank.
    6. J. Paul Dunne & Ron Smith, 2010. "Military Expenditure And Granger Causality: A Critical Review," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(5-6), pages 427-441.
    7. Deger, Saadet & Sen, Somnath, 1995. "Military expenditure and developing countries," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 275-307, Elsevier.
    8. 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.
    9. Deger, Saadet & Sen, Somnath, 1983. "Military expenditure, spin-off and economic development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1-2), pages 67-83.
    10. Jesús Crespo Cuaresma & Gerhard Reitschuler, 2004. "A non-linear defence-growth nexus? evidence from the US economy," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 71-82, February.
    11. J Paul Dunne, Eftychia Nikolaidou, 2005. "Military Spending and Economic Growth in Greece, Portugal and Spain," Frontiers in Finance and Economics, SKEMA Business School, vol. 2(1), pages 1-17, June.
    12. Easterly, William & Rebelo, Sergio, 1993. "Fiscal policy and economic growth: An empirical investigation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 417-458, December.
    13. 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.
    14. Doucouliagos, Chris & Ulubasoglu, Mehmet Ali, 2006. "Economic freedom and economic growth: Does specification make a difference?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 60-81, March.
    15. T. D. Stanley, 2005. "Beyond Publication Bias," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 309-345, July.
    16. Pavel Yakovlev, 2007. "Arms Trade, Military Spending, And Economic Growth," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 317-338.
    17. Joerding, Wayne, 1986. "Economic growth and defense spending : Granger Causality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 35-40, April.
    18. repec:bgu:wpaper:163 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Landau, Daniel, 1996. "Is one of the 'peace dividends' negative? Military expenditure and economic growth in the wealthy OECD countries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 183-195.
    20. Joshua Aizenman & Reuven Glick, 2006. "Military expenditure, threats, and growth," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 129-155.
    21. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Swaroop, Vinaya & Heng-fu, Zou, 1996. "The composition of public expenditure and economic growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 313-344, April.
    22. Benoit, Emile, 1978. "Growth and Defense in Developing Countries," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 271-280, January.
    23. Doucouliagos, Hristos (Chris), 2011. "How large is large? Preliminary and relative guidelines for interpreting partial correlations in economics," Working Papers eco_2011_5, Deakin University, Department of Economics.
    24. Pantelis Kalaitzidakis & Vangelis Tzouvelekas, 2011. "Military Spending And The Growth‐Maximizing Allocation Of Public Capital: A Cross‐Country Empirical Analysis," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(4), pages 1029-1041, October.
    25. Hristos Doucouliagos & T. D. Stanley, 2009. "Publication Selection Bias in Minimum‐Wage Research? A Meta‐Regression Analysis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 406-428, June.
    26. Lipow, Jonathan & Antinori, Camille M., 1995. "External security threats, defense expenditures, and the economic growth of less-developed countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 579-595, December.
    27. Aschauer, David Alan, 1989. "Is public expenditure productive?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 177-200, March.
    28. Blomberg, S Brock, 1996. "Growth, Political Instability and the Defence Burden," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 63(252), pages 649-672, November.
    29. Christos Kollias & Nikolaos Mylonidis & Suzanna-Maria Paleologou, 2007. "A Panel Data Analysis Of The Nexus Between Defence Spending And Growth In The European Union," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 75-85.
    30. T. D. Stanley, 2008. "Meta‐Regression Methods for Detecting and Estimating Empirical Effects in the Presence of Publication Selection," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(1), pages 103-127, February.
    31. Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), 1995. "Handbook of Defense Economics," Handbook of Defense Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    32. Mr. Benedict J. Clements & Mr. Sanjeev Gupta & Mr. Emanuele Baldacci & Mr. Carlos Mulas-Granados, 2002. "Expenditure Composition, Fiscal Adjustment, and Growth in Low-Income Countries," IMF Working Papers 2002/077, International Monetary Fund.
    33. J. Paul Dunne & Ron Smith & Dirk Willenbockel, 2005. "Models Of Military Expenditure And Growth: A Critical Review," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(6), pages 449-461.
    34. Brzoska, Michael, 1995. "World military expenditures," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 3, pages 45-67, Elsevier.
    35. Ram, Rati, 1995. "Defense expenditure and economic growth," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 251-274, Elsevier.
    36. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    37. Saadet Deger & Ron Smith, 1983. "Military Expenditure and Growth in Less Developed Countries," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 27(2), pages 335-353, June.
    38. Brumm, Harold J., 1997. "Military Spending, Government Disarray, and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Analysis," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 827-838, October.
    39. Nijkamp, Peter & Poot, Jacques, 2004. "Meta-analysis of the effect of fiscal policies on long-run growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 91-124, March.
    40. Maria Abreu & Henri L. F. de Groot & Raymond J. G. M. Florax, 2005. "A Meta‐Analysis of β‐Convergence: the Legendary 2%," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 389-420, July.
    41. T. D. Stanley & Stephen B. Jarrell, 2005. "Meta‐Regression Analysis: A Quantitative Method of Literature Surveys," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 299-308, July.
    42. Dakurah, A. Henry & Davies, Stephen P. & Sampath, Rajan K., 2001. "Defense spending and economic growth in developing countries: A causality analysis," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 651-658, August.
    43. Deger, Saadet, 1986. "Economic Development and Defense Expenditure," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(1), pages 179-196, October.
    44. Hartley, Keith & McLean, Pat, 1981. "U.K. Defence Expenditure," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 36(2), pages 171-192.
    45. Ram, Rati, 1986. "Government Size and Economic Growth: A New Framework and Some Evidencefrom Cross-Section and Time-Series Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(1), pages 191-203, March.
    46. Feder, Gershon, 1983. "On exports and economic growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-2), pages 59-73.
    47. Faini, Riccardo & Annez, Patricia & Taylor, Lance, 1984. "Defense Spending, Economic Structure, and Growth: Evidence among Countries and Over Time," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(3), pages 487-498, April.
    48. Ã…dne Cappelen & Nils Petter Gleditsch & Olav Bjerkholt, 1984. "Military Spending and Economic Growth in the OECD Countries," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 21(4), pages 361-373, December.
    49. James C. Murdoch & Todd Sandler, 2002. "Economic Growth, Civil Wars, and Spatial Spillovers," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 46(1), pages 91-110, February.
    50. Hannah Galvin, 2003. "The impact of defence spending on the economic growth of developing countries: A cross-section study," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 51-59.
    51. Looney, Robert E, 1989. "Impact of Arms Production on Income Distribution and Growth in the Third World," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(1), pages 145-153, October.
    52. Sandler,Todd & Hartley,Keith, 1995. "The Economics of Defense," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521447287.
    53. Christos Kollias & Nikolaos Mylonidis & Suzanna-Maria Paleologou, 2007. "A Panel Data Analysis Of The Nexus Between Defence Spending And Growth In The European Union: A Reply," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(6), pages 581-583.
    54. Laura De Dominicis & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & Henri L. F. De Groot, 2008. "A Meta‐Analysis On The Relationship Between Income Inequality And Economic Growth," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 55(5), pages 654-682, November.
    55. Looney, Robert & McNab, Robert M., 2008. "Can economic liberalization and improved governance alter the defense-growth trade-off?," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 172-182, August.
    56. T. D. Stanley, 2001. "Wheat from Chaff: Meta-analysis as Quantitative Literature Review," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 131-150, Summer.
    57. Lim, David, 1983. "Another Look at Growth and Defense in Less Developed Countries," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(2), pages 377-384, January.
    58. Landau, Daniel, 1986. "Government and Economic Growth in the Less Developed Countries: An Empirical Study for 1960-1980," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(1), pages 35-75, October.
    59. Niloy Bose & M. Emranul Haque & Denise R. Osborn, 2007. "Public Expenditure And Economic Growth: A Disaggregated Analysis For Developing Countries," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 75(5), pages 533-556, September.
    60. Ward, Michael D. & Davis, David R., 1992. "Sizing up the Peace Dividend: Economic Growth and Military Spending in the United States, 1948–1996," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(3), pages 748-755, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Siew Ling Yew, 2018. "The effect of military expenditure on growth: an empirical synthesis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 1357-1387, November.
    2. Paula Gómez-Trueba Santamaría & Alfredo Arahuetes García & Tomás Curto González, 2021. "A tale of five stories: Defence spending and economic growth in NATO´s countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(1), pages 1-22, January.
    3. Garfinkel, Michelle R. & Skaperdas, Stergios (ed.), 2012. "The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Peace and Conflict," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195392777.
    4. Muhammad Shahbaz & Talat Afza & Muhammad Shahbaz Shabbir, 2013. "Does Defence Spending Impede Economic Growth? Cointegration And Causality Analysis For Pakistan," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 105-120, April.
    5. Chang, Hsin-Chen & Huang, Bwo-Nung & Yang, Chin Wei, 2011. "Military expenditure and economic growth across different groups: A dynamic panel Granger-causality approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 2416-2423.
    6. Innocent.U. Duru & Millicent Adanne Eze & Bartholomew.O.N. Okafor & Abubakar Yusuf & Lawrence.O. Ede & Abubakar Sadiq Saleh, 2021. "Military Outlay and Economic Growth: The Scenarios of Lake Chad Basin Countries of the Republic of Chad and Nigeria," Growth, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 8(1), pages 12-26.
    7. E. Desli & A. Gkoulgkoutsika & C. Katrakilidis, 2017. "Investigating the Dynamic Interaction between Military Spending and Economic Growth," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 511-526, August.
    8. Mie Augier & Robert McNab & Jerry Guo & Phillip Karber, 2017. "Defense spending and economic growth: evidence from China, 1952–2012," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 65-90, January.
    9. Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Mehmet Ugur & Siew Ling Yew, 2017. "Does Government Size Affect Per-Capita Income Growth? A Hierarchical Meta-Regression Analysis," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93(300), pages 142-171, March.
    10. Kimbambu Tsasa Vangu, Jean - Paul, 2012. "Analyse de la Relation Guerres Civiles et Croissance Économique [Civil Wars and Economic Growth in DRC]," MPRA Paper 42424, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Feb 2012.
    11. Waqar Qureshi & Noor Pio Khan, 2017. "Revisiting the Relationship between Military Expenditure and Economic Growth in Pakistan," Global Social Sciences Review, Humanity Only, vol. 2(1), pages 18-46, June.
    12. Hou Na & Chen Bo, 2014. "Military Spending and Economic Growth in An Augmented Solow Model: A Panel Data Investigation for OECD Countries," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(3), pages 1-15, August.
    13. Serhan Cevik & John Ricco, 2018. "No buck for the bang: revisiting the military-growth nexus," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 639-653, November.
    14. Albert J.F. Yang & William N. Trumbull & Chin Wei Yang & Bwo‐Nung Huang, 2011. "On The Relationship Between Military Expenditure, Threat, And Economic Growth: A Nonlinear Approach," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 449-457, April.
    15. 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.
    16. Nijkamp, Peter & Poot, Jacques, 2004. "Meta-analysis of the effect of fiscal policies on long-run growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 91-124, March.
    17. E. Desli & A. Gkoulgkoutsika, 2021. "Military spending and economic growth: a panel data investigation," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 781-806, August.
    18. Ünal Töngür & Adem Yavuz Elveren, 2017. "The nexus of economic growth, military expenditures, and income inequality," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1821-1842, July.
    19. Peter Nijkamp & Jacques Poot, Victoria, 2002. "Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Fiscal Policies on Long-Run Growth," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 02-028/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 23 Apr 2003.
    20. Na Hou & Bo Chen, 2013. "Military Expenditure And Economic Growth In Developing Countries: Evidence From System Gmm Estimates," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 183-193, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    military expenditure; economic growth; meta analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • C42 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Survey Methods

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:28853. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.