IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ana/journl/v4y2018i2p75-94.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Military Expenditure on Profit Rates: Evidence from Major Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Adem Yavuz Elveren

    (Department of Economics, History, and Political Science, Fitchburg State University)

  • Sara Hsu

    (Department of Economics, State University of New York-New Paltz)

Abstract

This article provides evidence of the effect of military expenditures on the rate of profits by focusing on 32 major countries for the period of 1963-2008 by using data from the Extended Penn World Tables, the University of Texas Inequality Project Estimated Household Income Inequality, the World Development Indicator, and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The article employs a Generalized Method of Moment model within a Marxist framework. Findings show that military expenditures have positive effect on the rate of profits. It is also showed that increasing income inequality increases the rate of profits. Finally, the findings suggest that while military expenditures have a positive effect on the profit rates in the case of both armsexporting countries and net-arms exporters, the relationship is not that significant in the case of arms-importing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Adem Yavuz Elveren & Sara Hsu, 2018. "The Effect of Military Expenditure on Profit Rates: Evidence from Major Countries," World Journal of Applied Economics, WERI-World Economic Research Institute, vol. 4(2), pages 75-94, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ana:journl:v:4:y:2018:i:2:p:75-94
    DOI: 10.22440/wjae.4.2.2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journal.econworld.org/index.php/econworld/article/view/105/33
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22440/wjae.4.2.2?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    2. Fred M. Gottheil, 1986. "Marx versus Marxists on the Role of Military Production in Capitalist Economies," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(4), pages 563-573, July.
    3. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    4. Fanny Coulomb & Renaud Bellais, 2008. "The Marxist Analysis Of War And Military Expenditures, Between Certainty And Uncertainty," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(5), pages 351-359.
    5. Laura Carvalho & Armon Rezai, 2016. "Personal income inequality and aggregate demand," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 40(2), pages 491-505.
    6. Dunne, Paul, 1990. "The Political Economy of Military Expenditure: An Introduction," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 14(4), pages 395-404, December.
    7. 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.
    8. Pivetti, Massimo, 1992. "Military Spending as a Burden on Growth: An 'Underconsumptionist' Critique," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(4), pages 373-384, December.
    9. Dumitrescu, Elena-Ivona & Hurlin, Christophe, 2012. "Testing for Granger non-causality in heterogeneous panels," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 1450-1460.
    10. Fanny Coulomb & Renaud Bellais, 2008. "The Marxist analysis of war and military expenditures, between certainty and uncertainty," Post-Print hal-01053853, HAL.
    11. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    12. Smith, Ron P, 1978. "Military Expenditure and Capitalism: A Reply," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 2(3), pages 299-304, September.
    13. Thomas I. Palley, 2002. "Economic contradictions coming home to roost? Does the U.S. economy face a long-term aggregate demand generation problem?," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 9-32.
    14. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    15. Stephen R. Bond, 2002. "Dynamic panel data models: a guide to micro data methods and practice," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 1(2), pages 141-162, August.
    16. Magdoff, Harry, 1970. "Militarism and Imperialism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(2), pages 237-242, May.
    17. Deepankar Basu & Ramaa Vasudevan, 2013. "Technology, distribution and the rate of profit in the US economy: understanding the current crisis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 37(1), pages 57-89.
    18. Christos Kollias & Thanasis Maniatis, 2003. "Military expenditure and the profit rate in Greece," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 117-127.
    19. Smith, Ronald P., 1980. "Military expenditure and investment in OECD countries, 1954-1973," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 19-32, March.
    20. Hamid Ali, 2007. "Military Expenditures And Inequality: Empirical Evidence From Global Data," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(6), pages 519-535.
    21. Abell, John D, 1990. "Defence Spending and Unemployment Rates: An Empirical Analysis Disaggregated by Race," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 14(4), pages 405-419, December.
    22. Deininger, Klaus & Squire, Lyn, 1996. "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 565-591, September.
    23. James M. Cypher, 1987. "Military Spending, Technical Change, and Economic Growth: A Disguised Form of Industrial Policy?," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 33-59, March.
    24. John A. Miller, 1987. "Military Spending and Economic Crises: A Comment on Gottheil and Riddell," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 310-317, December.
    25. Alptekin, Aynur & Levine, Paul, 2012. "Military expenditure and economic growth: A meta-analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 636-650.
    26. James M. Cypher, 1987. "Military Production and Capital Accumulation: A Comment," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 304-309, December.
    27. Elveren, Adem Yavuz & Dunning, Rachel, 2017. "Do Military Expenditures Boost Profit Rates?," MPRA Paper 81143, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    28. Chester, Eric, 1978. "Military Spending and Capitalist Stability," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 2(3), pages 293-298, September.
    29. Hartley, Keith & McLean, Pat, 1978. "Military Expenditure and Capitalism: A Comment," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 2(3), pages 287-292, September.
    30. Reich, Michael, 1972. "Does the U.S. Economy Require Military Spending?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(2), pages 296-303, May.
    31. David Roodman, 2006. "How to Do xtabond2," North American Stata Users' Group Meetings 2006 8, Stata Users Group.
    32. Smith, R P, 1977. "Military Expenditure and Capitalism," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 1(1), pages 61-76, March.
    33. Elveren, Adem Yavuz & Özgür, Gökçer, 2018. "The Effect of Military Expenditures on the Profit Rates in Turkey," MPRA Paper 88848, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    34. Amitava Krishna Dutt, 2006. "Maturity, Stagnation And Consumer Debt: A Steindlian Approach," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 339-364, July.
    35. Adem Y. Elveren & Sara Hsu, 2016. "Military Expenditures and Profit Rates: Evidence from OECD Countries," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(3), pages 551-577, July.
    36. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    37. Ramaa Vasudevan, 2016. "Financialization, Distribution and Accumulation: A Circuit of Capital Model with A Managerial Class," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 397-428, May.
    38. Pivetti, Massimo, 1994. "Effective Demand, 'Marxo-Marginalism' and the Economics of Military Spending: Rejoinder," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 18(5), pages 523-527, October.
    39. 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.
    40. Stephen Bond, 2002. "Dynamic panel data models: a guide to microdata methods and practice," CeMMAP working papers CWP09/02, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    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. 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.

    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. Adem Y. Elveren & Sara Hsu, 2016. "Military Expenditures and Profit Rates: Evidence from OECD Countries," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(3), pages 551-577, July.
    2. Gravier-Rymaszewska, Joanna & Tyrowicz, Joanna & Kochanowicz, Jacek, 2010. "Intra-provincial inequalities and economic growth in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 237-258, September.
    3. 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.
    4. Roberto Dell'Anno & Adalgiso Amendola, 2015. "Social Exclusion and Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation in European Economies," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(2), pages 274-301, June.
    5. Juan Federico & Joan-Lluis Capelleras, 2015. "The heterogeneous dynamics between growth and profits: the case of young firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 231-253, February.
    6. Elveren, Adem Yavuz & Özgür, Gökçer, 2018. "The Effect of Military Expenditures on the Profit Rates in Turkey," MPRA Paper 88848, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Christos Kollias & Thanasis Maniatis, 2003. "Military expenditure and the profit rate in Greece," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 117-127.
    11. Charles Shaaba Saba & Nicholas Ngepah, 2020. "Empirical Analysis of Military Expenditure and Industrialisation Nexus: A Regional Approach for Africa," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 58-84, January.
    12. Scott, K. Rebecca, 2015. "Demand and price uncertainty: Rational habits in international gasoline demand," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 40-49.
    13. Möller Joachim & Tubadji Annie, 2009. "The Creative Class, Bohemians and Local Labor Market Performance: A Micro-data Panel Study for Germany 1975–2004," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 229(2-3), pages 270-291, April.
    14. Poelhekke, Steven, 2011. "Urban growth and uninsured rural risk: Booming towns in bust times," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 461-475, November.
    15. Martin Bijsterbosch & Marcin Kolasa, 2010. "FDI and productivity convergence in Central and Eastern Europe: an industry-level investigation," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 145(4), pages 689-712, January.
    16. J.A. Bikker & Tobias M. Vervliet, 2017. "Bank Profitability and Risk-Taking under Low Interest Rates," Working Papers 17-10, Utrecht School of Economics.
    17. Théo Nicolas, 2019. "How Do Short-term Financial Constraints Affect SMEs’ Long-Term Investment: Evidence from the Working Capital Channel," Working papers 731, Banque de France.
    18. Gharehgozli, Orkideh, 2021. "An empirical comparison between a regression framework and the Synthetic Control Method," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 70-81.
    19. Martin Andersson & Hans Lööf, 2011. "Agglomeration and productivity: evidence from firm-level data," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(3), pages 601-620, June.
    20. Charles Shaaba Saba & Nicholas Ngepah, 2019. "Military expenditure and economic growth: evidence from a heterogeneous panel of African countries," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 3586-3606, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Military expenditure; Profit rate; Income inequality; Panel data; Marxist economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • E11 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Marxian; Sraffian; Kaleckian
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - 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:ana:journl:v:4:y:2018:i:2:p:75-94. 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: Unal Tongur (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ewanatr.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.