Economic Development, Armament and Military Expenditure. An International Perspective

The paper sets out to analyze military spending in the current context of globalization and convergence processes involving many developing countries. On the one hand, growth drivers in many emerging economies are attributable to gross fixed capital formation, attraction of foreign direct investment and ability to internationalize and export. On the other hand, military expenditures, once again rising after a decade’s downturn, have ambiguous effects on economic growth paths, positively with regard to some advanced economies, particularly in Europe, but negative for the poorest countries. In this case the effects of displacement of public expenditure in relation to productive investment or social and educational expenditure represent clear constraints that hamper a balanced and sustainable development and, in general, the capacity of attracting investment and the social well-being.