The political economy of military spending, freedom, conflicts, and economic growth in developing countries
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Date
2006-08-16
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Publisher
Texas A&M University
Abstract
This study assesses the effect of politics on economic growth in developing
societies. In this study I developed and applied an augmented production function model
to 69 developing countries with several political variables: regime type, institutional
freedom, political freedom, political stability, and ideological base. I investigated how
changes of political contexts affect economic growth by applying non-linear least
squares, and cross national time series techniques to the production function defensegrowth
model utilizing time series data from 1960 to 2002. The results show that the
impacts of political variables on economic growth are at least as significant as the
economic variables; the externality of non-military spending has positive and significant
impact on economic growth in the majority of countries; and the impacts of economic
and military variables and their externalities effects on economic growth differ with
different political contexts. The main findings of the study provide guidelines to policy
decision makers in evaluating their ÂgunsÂ-Âbutter alternatives.
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Keywords
Defense, Growth