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Guns, highways and economic growth in the United States

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  • Kollias, Christos
  • Paleologou, Suzanna-Maria

Abstract

Given its significant policy implications, the nexus between public expenditures and economic growth has been the subject of an extensive and often emotive theoretical and empirical debate. The nexus between two types of public expenditures and economic growth is examined in this paper using both linear and nonlinear causality tests. Both spending on highways and on defence are regarded, albeit with not the same intensity of conviction, as useful counter-cyclical policy instruments and as stimuli to economic growth. Findings reported herein from both linear and non-linear causality tests offer evidence in support for the growth enhancing properties of the former type of public spending but not so in the case of military expenditure.

Suggested Citation

  • Kollias, Christos & Paleologou, Suzanna-Maria, 2013. "Guns, highways and economic growth in the United States," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 449-455.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:30:y:2013:i:c:p:449-455
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2012.09.048
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    3. Michał Konopczyński, 2018. "How Taxes, Education and Public Capital Influence Economic Growth in Poland," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 12(3), September.
    4. Malizard, Julien, 2015. "Does military expenditure crowd out private investment? A disaggregated perspective for the case of France," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 44-52.
    5. Mehmet Akif Destek & Ilyas Okumus, 2016. "Military Expenditure and Economic Growth in Brics and Mist Countries: Evidence from Bootstrap Panel Granger Causality Analysis," South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, vol. 14(2), pages 175-186.
    6. 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.
    7. Alessandra Cepparulo & Paolo Pasimeni, 2024. "Defence Spending in the European Union," European Economy - Discussion Papers 199, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    8. Charles Shaaba Saba & Nicholas Ngepah, 2022. "Nexus between defence spending, economic growth and development: evidence from a disaggregated panel data analysis," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 109-151, February.
    9. Abdulnasser Hatemi-J & Tsangyao Chang & Wen-Yi Chen & Feng-Li Lin & Rangan Gupta, 2015. "Asymmetric Granger Causality between Military Expenditures and Economic Growth in Top Six Defense Suppliers," Working Papers 201565, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    10. Kyriakos Emmanouilidis & Christos Karpetis, 2020. "The Defense–Growth Nexus: A Review of Time Series Methods and Empirical Results," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 86-104, January.
    11. Lu Yang & Dan Wu & Shuhui Cao & Weinan Zhang & Zebin Zheng & Li Liu, 2022. "Transportation Interrelation Embedded in Regional Development: The Characteristics and Drivers of Road Transportation Interrelation in Guangdong Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    12. 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.
    13. Callado-Muñoz, Francisco J. & Hromcová, Jana & Utrero-González, Natalia, 2023. "Can buying weapons from your friends make you better off? Evidence from NATO," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    14. Chen, Pei-Fen & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chiu, Yi-Bin, 2014. "The nexus between defense expenditure and economic growth: New global evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 474-483.
    15. Duygu Yolcu Karadam & Jülide Yildirim & Nadir Öcal, 2017. "Military expenditure and economic growth in Middle Eastern countries and Turkey: a non-linear panel data approach," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 719-730, November.
    16. Saba Charles Shaaba, 2022. "Defence Spending and Economic Growth in South Africa: Evidence from Cointegration and Co-Feature Analysis," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 28(1), pages 51-100, February.
    17. Phuong Nguyen-Hoang, 2015. "Volatile earmarked revenues and state highway expenditures in the United States," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 237-256, March.
    18. J. Paul Dunne & Christine S. Makanza, 2019. "Nonlinear Effects of Military Spending on Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa," School of Economics Macroeconomic Discussion Paper Series 2019-04, School of Economics, University of Cape Town.
    19. Christos Kollias & Suzanna-Maria Paleologou, 2015. "Defence And Non-Defence Spending In The Usa: Stimuli To Economic Growth? Comparative Findings From A Semiparametric Approach," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(4), pages 359-370, October.
    20. Bove, Vincenzo & Nisticò, Roberto, 2014. "Military in politics and budgetary allocations," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 1065-1078.
    21. 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.
    22. Vincenzo Bove & Jennifer Brauner, 2016. "The demand for military expenditure in authoritarian regimes," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(5), pages 609-625, September.
    23. Abdulnasser Hatemi-J & Tsangyao Chang & Wen-Yi Chen & Feng-Li Lin & Rangan Gupta, 2018. "Asymmetric causality between military expenditures and economic growth in top six defense spenders," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 1193-1207, May.
    24. Kollias Christos & Paleologou Suzanna-Maria & Tzeremes Panayiotis, 2020. "Defence Spending and Unemployment in the USA: Disaggregated Analysis by Gender and Age Groups," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 26(2), pages 1-13, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Highway spending; Military spending; USA; Economic growth; Nonlinear causality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes

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