The military burden in the open economy
Abstract
Recent years have seen a substantial increase in the value and quantity of international arms transfers. This has been caused by various factors; an increase in the cost and sophistication of defence technology; a large OPEC oil surplus which generates additional revenue to buy arms; an increase in credit facilities to finance military imports; and competitive arms races in the Third World on the basis of armaments stocks bought from a few developed countries. For an open economy, the macroeconomic costs of weapons imports may be quite substantial, and we will now deal with some of the relevant issues in this context.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Defense
Military
and Policy Studies
Global trade and economics
Economic and Fiscal Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Routledge eBooks
- Pages
- 126–149
- Publication date
- 6 March 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter