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2/2023 vol. 314
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RESEARCH PAPER
Can We Have More Butter and Guns Simultaneously? An Endogeneity Perspective
Rafał Woźniak 1
,
 
Jacek Lewkowicz 1
 
 
 
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1
Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, Poland
 
 
Submission date: 2022-12-27
 
 
Final revision date: 2023-04-30
 
 
Acceptance date: 2023-06-12
 
 
Publication date: 2023-06-30
 
 
Corresponding author
Jacek Lewkowicz   

Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, Poland
 
 
GNPJE 2023;314(2):28-46
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33119/GN/168221
 
 
Article (PDF)
Supplementary files
References (76)
 
KEYWORDS
economic development
military expenditures
arms race
endogeneity
 
JEL CLASSIFICATION CODES
H56
N40
O11
P48
 
ABSTRACT
Drivers and outcomes of military expenditures are an important topic in geopolitics and public debate. It is often argued that increases in the military budget can boost the economy through extended military equipment production. What should then be noticeable is a feedback relationship between military expenditures and the current state of the economy. This paper investigates this reverse relationship at the macro level using an unbalanced panel dataset of 173 countries over the period 1949–2020. Our empirical analysis implies that the claimed positive feedback loop between military expenditures and economic growth is either completely absent or, at most, very weak.
 
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