Financial Constraints on Potential Latin American Arms Producers

Abstract

Despite the heated debate over the guns vs. butter issue, remarkably little empirical attention has been given to the socio-economic sources of national military-industrial capabilities. The boom in the growth of arms industries began in the 1960s. By the end of that decade, a total of 27 third-world countries produced some equipment for their armed forces, usually small arms and ammunition (Evans 1986, p. 99).