INTERNATIONAL PATTERNS IN MILITARY SPENDING

Investigates military spending correlates, using international cross-sectional data for 1984. Developed and developing countries as well as market and centrally planned economies are considered, distinguishing whether they are in conflict and whether they belong to alliances such as NATO and the Warsaw Pact. A simple model of military expenditure is investigated by cross-sectional data for 137 countries. The model is based on the premise that military expenditure deters war and departs from previous theoretical efforts in that it applies state preference theory to determine the demand for military spending. The main concern is with the effect of gross domestic product and other factors on military spending and the author attempts to determine whether richer countries spend disproportionately more on defense than do poorer countries. -from Author