Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/213587 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
ifo Working Paper No. 310
Publisher: 
ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, Munich
Abstract: 
Scholars have estimated demand functions for national defense spending and investigated international arms trade for a long time. The relationship between supply and demand for military goods has, however, only been examined on aggregate level or in formal models yet. I investigate how the supply of military goods by arms-producing companies and the demand for military goods by both the national government and foreign governments are related by using a panel of up to 195 arms-producing companies in 21 countries for the period 2002-2016. The results show that if the demand for national defense spending increases by 1%, the arms sales by a country's largest arms-producing companies increase by up to 1.2%. If exports of major conventional weapons increase by 1%, sales increase by up to 0.2%. Arms imports do not affect domestic arms sales because imported and domestically produced arms are complements, and countries mainly import those arms they do not produce themselves. Country-specific estimation results suggest that differences among countries in geopolitical conditions and international relations determine whether a country's arms industry serves economic rather than security purposes.
Subjects: 
arms industry
arms trade
defense spending
panel data
JEL: 
L64
F14
H56
C23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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