Determinants of Military Expenditures in Developing Countries

Abstract

Relatively few studies have examined the patterns of government spending policy in developing countries and, in particular, the amount of central government budgets allocated to defense. In an early work, Martin and Lewis 1 analyzed the size and composition of public expenditures and revenues for 16 countries, 10 of which can be classified as developing. Public expenditures were divided into current and capital expenditures and for each group a functional classification was made. For current expenditures, it was found that the richer countries spent more than poorer countries relative to GNP on defense, public debt, social security programs, and food and agricultural subsidies. The relative importance of the remaining government expenditures (basic expenditures) was not related to per capita income.