Arms and conflict in the Middle East

This study contributes to the debate on whether defense spending encourages or hinders economic growth. The effect of politics on economic growth in developing societies is assessed, with a focus on the Middle East. The study is the first to add conflict variables to the production function defense-...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Attar, Riad A. (Author)
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Bingley, UK Emerald Group 2009
Series:Contributions to conflict management, peace economics and development volume 13
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study contributes to the debate on whether defense spending encourages or hinders economic growth. The effect of politics on economic growth in developing societies is assessed, with a focus on the Middle East. The study is the first to add conflict variables to the production function defense-growth model and test them empirically across countries and regions, and provide robust empirical evidence on the differential effects of interstate and intrastate conflicts on economic growth. The study provides compelling empirical evidence and guidelines to policy decision makers on how to allocate the resources of their states and adopt policies that promote political economic development. The study urges Third World leaders to improve levels of freedom, democracy, and openness of their political systems because the results confirm that political factors are at least as important as economic factors in promoting economic growth. Furthermore, the results attest that the reallocation of resources from military to the civilian sector is the sine qua non to improve the performance of developing countries' economies.
Physical Description:xi, 260 pages illustrations 24 cm
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references and index
ISBN:9781849506618
ISSN:1572-8323