IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v56y2012i3p413-438.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Who Pays for National Defense? Financing Defense Programs in the United States, 1947–2007

Author

Listed:
  • Uk Heo
  • John Bohte

Abstract

Past studies on military expenditures in the United States have primarily focused on the extent to which guns versus butter trade-offs are prevalent without examining this relationship in the context of how other fiscal policy tools are used to pay for defense. Using annual data from 1947–2007, this study examines the relative importance of defense financing policy measures, such as guns versus butter trade-offs, tax increases, and deficit spending in paying for defense. The results show evidence of guns versus butter trade-off during the Reagan Era, but not during other periods. Both federal tax policy and deficit spending have played influential roles in funding defense spending during peacetime. This modeling strategy points to the importance of analyzing the effects of multiple fiscal policy tools when studying the forces that drive military spending in the United States since World War II.

Suggested Citation

  • Uk Heo & John Bohte, 2012. "Who Pays for National Defense? Financing Defense Programs in the United States, 1947–2007," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 56(3), pages 413-438, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:56:y:2012:i:3:p:413-438
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://jcr.sagepub.com/content/56/3/413.abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barro, Robert J & Sahasakul, Chaipat, 1986. "Average Marginal Tax Rates from Social Security and the Individual Income Tax," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(4), pages 555-566, October.
    2. Russett, Bruce M., 1969. "Who Pays for Defense?1," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(2), pages 412-426, June.
    3. King, Robert G & Rebelo, Sergio, 1990. "Public Policy and Economic Growth: Developing Neoclassical Implications," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 126-150, October.
    4. Quinn, Dennis P. & Shapiro, Robert Y., 1991. "Business Political Power: The Case of Taxation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(3), pages 851-874, September.
    5. DeROUEN JR, KARL & HEO, UK, 2001. "Modernization and the Military in Latin America," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 31(3), pages 475-496, July.
    6. Uk Heo, 1998. "Modeling the Defense-Growth Relationship around the Globe," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 42(5), pages 637-657, October.
    7. Robert J. Barro & Xavier Sala-I-Martin, 1992. "Public Finance in Models of Economic Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(4), pages 645-661.
    8. Kamlet, Mark S. & Mowery, David C., 1987. "Influences on Executive and Congressional Budgetary Priorities, 1955–1981," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 155-178, March.
    9. 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.
    10. Uk Heo, 1999. "Defense Spending and Economic Growth in South Korea: The Indirect Link," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 36(6), pages 699-708, November.
    11. Jeffrey Smith & M. H. Tuttle, 2008. "Does Defense Spending Really Promote Aggregate Output In The United States?," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(6), pages 435-447.
    12. Rock-Antoine Mehanna, 2004. "An Econometric Contribution to the U.S. Defense—Growth Nexus: Evidence from Error Correction Model," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 21(2), pages 121-131, April.
    13. Ostrom, Charles W. & Simon, Dennis M., 1985. "Promise and Performance: A Dynamic Model of Presidential Popularity," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(2), pages 334-358, June.
    14. Mintz, Alex, 1989. "Guns Versus Butter: A Disaggregated Analysis," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 83(4), pages 1285-1293, December.
    15. Michael Gerace, 2002. "US Military Expenditures and Economic Growth: Some Evidence from Spectral Methods," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11.
    16. Heijdra, Ben J., 2017. "Foundations of Modern Macroeconomics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 3, number 9780198784135.
    17. Raford Boddy & James Crotty, 1975. "Class Conflict and Macro-Policy: The Political Business Cycle," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-19, April.
    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. Uk Heo & Min Ye, 2016. "Defense Spending and Economic Growth around the Globe: The Direct and Indirect Link," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(5), pages 774-796, October.
    2. Gustavo Marrero, 2010. "Tax-mix, public spending composition and growth," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 29-51, February.
    3. Turnovsky, S., 2000. "Growth in an Open Economy: some Recent Developments," Papers 5, Warwick - Development Economics Research Centre.
    4. Sedat Alataş & Erkam Sarı, 2021. "An Empirical Investigation on Regional Disparities in Public Expenditures: Province Level Evidence from Turkey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 217-240, November.
    5. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:8:y:2007:i:4:p:1-7 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. John Creedy & Norman Gemmell, 2005. "Publicly financed education in an endogenous growth model," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(2), pages 114-131, April.
    7. Joseph G. ATTILA, 2008. "Corruption, taxation and economic growth: theory and evidence," Working Papers 200829, CERDI.
    8. Shu‐Hua Chen & Jang‐Ting Guo, 2018. "On Indeterminacy and Growth under Progressive Taxation and Utility‐Generating Government Spending," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 533-543, August.
    9. Halit Yanikkaya & Taner Turan, 2020. "Tax Structure And Economic Growth: Do Differences In Income Level And Government Effectiveness Matter?," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(01), pages 217-237, March.
    10. Wai‐Hong Ho & Yong Wang, 2005. "Public capital, asymmetric information, and economic growth," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(1), pages 57-80, February.
    11. Muinelo-Gallo, Leonel & Roca-Sagalés, Oriol, 2013. "Joint determinants of fiscal policy, income inequality and economic growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 814-824.
    12. Raul A. Barreto & James Alm, 2003. "Corruption, Optimal Taxation, and Growth," Public Finance Review, , vol. 31(3), pages 207-240, May.
    13. Kneller, Richard & Bleaney, Michael F. & Gemmell, Norman, 1999. "Fiscal policy and growth: evidence from OECD countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 171-190, November.
    14. Easterly, William, 1994. "Economic stagnation, fixed factors, and policy thresholds," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 525-557, June.
    15. Basil Dalamagas, 1998. "Endogenous growth and the dynamic Laffer curve," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 63-75.
    16. Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 1990. "Lecture Notes on Economic Growth(II): Five Prototype Models of Endogenous Growth," NBER Working Papers 3564, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Richard Kneller & Norman Gemmell, 2002. "Fiscal Policy, Growth and Convergence in Europe," European Economy Group Working Papers 14, European Economy Group.
    18. Bode, Eckhardt, 1996. "Ursachen regionaler Wachstumsunterschiede: wachstumstheoretische Erklärungsansätze," Kiel Working Papers 740, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    19. Pierre-Yves Hénin & Pierre Ralle, 1993. "Les nouvelles théories de la croissance : quelques apports pour la politique économique," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 44(1), pages 75-100.
    20. B. Dalamagas, 2003. "Tax rate changes and fiscal deficits: an empirical investigation," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 3-7.
    21. Cassou, Steven P. & Lansing, Kevin J., 1998. "Optimal fiscal policy, public capital, and the productivity slowdown," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 911-935, June.

    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:sae:jocore:v:56:y:2012:i:3:p:413-438. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://pss.la.psu.edu/ .

    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.