IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jed/journl/v42y2017i2p51-66.html

Empirical Analysis of the Relationship between Military Endeavor, Economic Growth and Happiness

Author

Listed:
  • Neila Ben Afia and Sana Harbi

    (Faculte des sciences economiques et de Gestion de Sousse)

Abstract

We study the relationship between happiness, economic growth and military endeavor. A distinction is drawn between the direct and the indirect impact of military endeavor on happiness which operates through the impact of military endeavor on income and the impact of income on happiness. Using panel data analysis for 45 countries covering the period from 2000 to 2013, direct and indirect impacts of military endeavor on happiness are estimated. Our results show that the military endeavor has a positive direct impact on happiness. Indirect effects are found to be positive, the total effect of military endeavor on happiness is positive.

Suggested Citation

  • Neila Ben Afia and Sana Harbi, 2017. "Empirical Analysis of the Relationship between Military Endeavor, Economic Growth and Happiness," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 42(2), pages 51-66, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:jed:journl:v:42:y:2017:i:2:p:51-66
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://jed.or.kr/full-text/42-2/4.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Levine, Ross & Zervos, Sara, 1993. "Looking at the facts : what we know about policy and growth from cross-country analysis," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1115, The World Bank.
    2. Angus Deaton, 2008. "Income, Health, and Well-Being around the World: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(2), pages 53-72, Spring.
    3. Easterlin, Richard A., 1995. "Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 35-47, June.
    4. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2004. "Well-being over time in Britain and the USA," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(7-8), pages 1359-1386, July.
    5. Robert J. MacCulloch & Rafael Di Tella & Andrew J. Oswald, 2001. "Preferences over Inflation and Unemployment: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 335-341, March.
    6. Justin Wolfers, 2003. "Is Business Cycle Volatility Costly? Evidence from Surveys of Subjective Well‐Being," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 1-26, March.
    7. Carol Graham & Stefano Pettinato, 2001. "Happiness, Markets, and Democracy: Latin America in Comparative Perspective," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 237-268, September.
    8. Frank, Robert H, 1997. "The Frame of Reference as a Public Good," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(445), pages 1832-1847, November.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Rafael Di Tella & Robert J. MacCulloch & Andrew J. Oswald, 2003. "The Macroeconomics of Happiness," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 809-827, November.
    12. 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.
    13. Christian Bjørnskov & Axel Dreher & Justina Fischer, 2008. "Cross-country determinants of life satisfaction: exploring different determinants across groups in society," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 30(1), pages 119-173, January.
    14. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J., 1996. "Satisfaction and comparison income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 359-381, September.
    15. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    16. 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.
    17. Luca Pieroni, 2007. "Military Spending and Economic Growth," Working Papers 0708, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    18. 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.
    19. Easterlin, Richard A., 2017. "Paradox Lost?," Review of Behavioral Economics, now publishers, vol. 4(4), pages 311-339, December.
    20. Di Tella, Rafael & MacCulloch, Robert, 2008. "Gross national happiness as an answer to the Easterlin Paradox?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 22-42, April.
    21. Deger, Saadet & Sen, Somnath, 1983. "Military expenditure, spin-off and economic development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1-2), pages 67-83.
    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. Cyrille Bergali Kamdem & Thierry Mamadou Asngar & Bruno Emmanuel Ongo Nkoa & Blaise Ondoua Beyene, 2025. "Cultural Diffusion and Happiness: A New Evidence in Sub Saharan Africa," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 1-24, June.
    2. Tom Coupé & Maksym Obrizan, 2024. "War and Happiness," Working Papers in Economics 24/06, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.

    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. Andrew E. Clark & Claudia Senik, 2010. "Will GDP growth increase happiness in developing countries?," PSE Working Papers halshs-00564985, HAL.
    2. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2004. "Well-being over time in Britain and the USA," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(7-8), pages 1359-1386, July.
    3. Cordero, José Manuel & Salinas-Jiménez, Javier & Salinas-Jiménez, M Mar, 2017. "Exploring factors affecting the level of happiness across countries: A conditional robust nonparametric frontier analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 256(2), pages 663-672.
    4. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2004. "Money, Sex and Happiness: An Empirical Study," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 106(3), pages 393-415, October.
    5. Bert Van Landeghem, 2012. "Panel Conditioning and Self-Reported Satisfaction: Evidence from International Panel Data and Repeated Cross-Sections," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 484, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    6. Antje Mertens & Miriam Beblo, 2016. "Self-Reported Satisfaction and the Economic Crisis of 2007–2010: Or How People in the UK and Germany Perceive a Severe Cyclical Downturn," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 537-565, January.
    7. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2011. "International Happiness," NBER Working Papers 16668, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Dolan, Paul & Peasgood, Tessa & White, Mathew, 2008. "Do we really know what makes us happy A review of the economic literature on the factors associated with subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 94-122, February.
    9. Nestor Gandelman & Ruben Hernandez-Murillo, 2009. "The impact of inflation and unemployment on subjective personal and country evaluations," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 91(May), pages 107-126.
    10. de Moura, Mauricio Jose Serpa Barros & da Silveira Bueno, Rodrigo De Losso, 2013. "Land title program in Brazil: Are there any changes to happiness?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 196-203.
    11. 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.
    12. Nguyen, Ha & Duncan, Alan, 2015. "Macroeconomic fluctuations in home countries and immigrants’ well-being: New evidence from Down Under," MPRA Paper 69593, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Feb 2016.
    13. Sabna Ali & Syed Mansoob Murshed & Elissaios Papyrakis, 2020. "Happiness and the Resource Curse," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 437-464, February.
    14. Kundu, Srikanta & Kundu, Ruma & Chettri, Kul Bahadur, 2024. "Asymmetric effects of democracy and macroeconomic factors on happiness under high and low per capita incomes: A threshold panel analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    15. Harbi, Sana El & Grolleau, Gilles, 2012. "Does self-employment contribute to national happiness?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 670-676.
    16. Czapinski, Janusz, 2013. "The economics of happiness and psychology of wealth," MPRA Paper 52897, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Kavetsos, Georgios & Szymanski, Stefan, 2010. "National well-being and international sports events," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 158-171, April.
    18. David Leblang & Michael D. Smith & Dennis Wesselbaum, 2025. "Does inflation affect well-being?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 69(3), pages 1527-1549, September.
    19. Barbara Dluhosch & Daniel Horgos, 2013. "Trading Up the Happiness Ladder," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 973-990, September.
    20. Juncal Cuñado & Fernando Gracia, 2012. "Does Education Affect Happiness? Evidence for Spain," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 108(1), pages 185-196, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

    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:jed:journl:v:42:y:2017:i:2:p:51-66. 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: Sung Y. Park (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eccaukr.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.