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Growth, Political Instability and the Defence Burden

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  • Blomberg, S Brock

Abstract

The author develops and tests a model to examine the economic effects of political instability and military expenditure. Defense plays three important roles in the model: (1) it provides insurance against political instability; (2) it augments the human capital stock by training the labour force; but (3) it comes at the expense of consumption. The resulting theory predicts that increased political instability or increased defense can inhibit economic growth. Using panel data, the author finds that increases in political instability do decrease growth while increases in defense do decrease political instability. I also find that increases in defense have a direct negative effect on growth, although the relation is weak. Copyright 1996 by The London School of Economics and Political Science.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:63:y:1996:i:252:p:649-72
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    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. Mario, Gilli & Yuan, Li, 2018. "Transitions and Political Stability in Autocracies. The Role of Public Perception," Working Papers 383, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised 13 Jul 2018.
    3. d’Agostino, Giorgio & Dunne, J. Paul & Pieroni, Luca, 2016. "Government Spending, Corruption and Economic Growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 190-205.
    4. 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.
    5. Pushan Dutt & Devashish Mitra, 2008. "Inequality and the Instability of Polity and Policy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(531), pages 1285-1314, August.
    6. S. Brock Blomberg & Gregory D. Hess, 2006. "How Much Does Violence Tax Trade?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(4), pages 599-612, November.
    7. Dimitrios Karamanis, 2022. "Defence partnerships, military expenditure, investment, and economic growth: an analysis in PESCO countries," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 173, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    8. Benjamin E. Goldsmith, 2003. "Bearing the Defense Burden, 1886-1989," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 47(5), pages 551-573, October.
    9. S. Brock Blomberg & Gregory D. Hess, 2002. "The Temporal Links between Conflict and Economic Activity," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 46(1), pages 74-90, February.
    10. Jong-A-Pin, Richard, 2009. "On the measurement of political instability and its impact on economic growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 15-29, March.
    11. Mohamed Maher & Yanzhi Zhao, 2022. "Do Political Instability and Military Expenditure Undermine Economic Growth in Egypt? Evidence from the ARDL Approach," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(8), pages 956-979, November.
    12. Shon R. Hiatt & W. Chad Carlos & Wesley D. Sine, 2018. "Manu Militari : The Institutional Contingencies of Stakeholder Relationships on Entrepreneurial Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 633-652, August.
    13. Ashraf, Junaid, 2022. "Do political instability, financial instability and environmental degradation undermine growth? Evidence from belt and road initiative countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 1113-1127.
    14. 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.
    15. Gilli, Mario & Li, Yuan, 2015. "Coups, revolutions and efficient policies in autocracies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 109-124.

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