Defense Burden and the Effect of Democracy: Evidence from a Spatial Panel Analysis

ABSTRACT

Do democracies spend less on national defense? This paper provides new evidence of the effect of democracy on defense burden based on a Spatial Durbin Model with panel data for 98 countries for the years 1992–2008. While democracy measured by means of an index variable covering the entire range from perfect democracy to perfect autocracy turns out to be insignificant, dummy variables indicating transition to higher levels of democracy reveal a statistically highly significant negative effect of democracy on a country’s defense burden. Allowing for country-specific effects reveals heterogeneity in the effect of democracy across countries. Apart from the effect of democracy, the estimation results indicate strong spatial dependence of military burdens across countries. Moreover, they provide statistical evidence for a peace dividend, for substitution effects in defense spending and for a negative effect on the military burden for countries when they exhibit a trade surplus instead of a trade deficit.     

Sovereign debt,deficits and defence spending: the case of Greece

Abstract

The outbreak of the sovereign debt crisis at the end of 2009 in Greece led to a severe recession, and constant economic problems. This paper investigates military expenditure among others as a potential factor to the growth of sovereign debt in Greece over the period 1960 until currently. Our empirical findings suggest that high deficits, inflation and military spending have been the primary causes of debt growth in Greece. The structural break models reveal a much higher effect of deficits and inflation in the post-1990 period while the threshold switching regression, based on the level of sovereign debt, indicate that for levels of debt-to-GDP ratio above 90% deficits, inflation and military expenditures had significantly more pronounced effects on government debt changes.     

Military expenditure and unemployment in the OECD

The effect of military expenditure on employment is a matter of considerable importance. However, few of the standard economic analyses of unemployment take any explicit account of variations in military expenditure in their models. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether the prevalent neglect of this variable in labour economics is justified.

The paper briefly surveys previous estimates made of the employment effects of military expenditure. It then considers evidence from the simple dynamic reduced form regressions estimated on long historical series for the US and the UK and pooled post‐war data for 11 OECD countries. It does not suggest that the share of military expenditure is a significant influence on the unemployment rate. This implies that in analysing unemployment no special account need be taken of military expenditure and that the fear that reductions in the share of military expenditure will be associated with higher average unemployment levels is misplaced.     

舰艇近区安全防卫系统分析

针对我国舰艇近区安全存在的问题,参照国外舰艇近区自卫装备发展情况,提出了发展具有综合利用观瞄设备和声纳,并集合各种致命和非致命武器特点的舰艇近区安全防卫系统的构想。系统配备的观瞄设备用于探测地面、水上及低空近临目标,而声纳用于探测水下目标,如蛙人,无人水下航行器等。在打击方面,系统配备了可以歼灭目标的致命武器以及用于驱逐目标的非致命武器。并对系统的关键技术进行了初步探讨。 关键词：舰艇近区安全,近区安全防卫系统,非致命武器     

基于BP神经网络的防空预警雷达阵地选址决策方法

防空预警雷达阵地选址的优劣直接影响到雷达本身及防空武器作战效能的发挥。为了在雷达阵地选址中快速处理繁多的数据和进行定量分析,减少人为主观因素,给出了防空预警雷达阵地选址决策指标体系,并构建了基于BP神经网络的防空预警雷达阵地选址决策模型。最后通过实例验证了该模型对优选防空预警雷达阵地选址具有可行性和实用性。     

灰色模糊物元分析的要地防空威胁评估

结合要地防空作战的特点,分析了影响目标威胁评估的因素.针对指标信息的不确定性,将模糊物元分析与灰色系统理论相结合,并运用AHP法和信息熵法进行组合赋权,建立了基于组合赋权的灰色模糊物元分析的要地防空威胁评估模型.在对来袭目标进行威胁评估时,将目标的各个特征作为物元的事物,以其各项评价指标及模糊灰量值构造复合模糊灰元.通过计算与标准模糊灰元之间的关联度,实现对空袭目标的威胁评估与排序.实例分析表明该方法可靠有效.     

基于对抗的防空体系结构演化性概念建模

为定量研究空防体系对抗过程,基于对空防体系对抗相关研究方法分析,提出从体系结构角度研究空防体系对抗.通过阐述对抗条件下的防空体系结构演化性建模思想,提出空防体系对抗实质是一个防空体系结构“动态编成—对抗消耗—优化修复”动态循环演化过程.在此基础上,围绕其中3个环节进行防空体系结构演化性概念建模,以此为空防体系对抗定量建模研究提供一种新思路.     

正确把握和处理防化科研发展和建设中的几个重要问题

结合防化科研工作实际,从四个方面谈了如何在防化科研中贯彻落实科学发展观、提高自主创新能力,推动防化科研又好又快发展的初步想法。     

实施大区域防空应重视末端防御

结合大区域防空作战的理论研究,分析未来防空中末端防御在大区域防空体系中的地位和作用。提出末端防御是大区域防空的重要组成部分,是防空体系中实施大区域防空的最后一道防线,是实现歼灭敌空袭兵器与掩护重要目标安全的重要手段。通过分析现代空袭特点,提出实施末端防御对我防空武器装备发展的要求。     

以色列警卫工作特点探析

以专业视野总结了以色列警卫工作的特点,从以色列警卫力量的职责地位、警卫措施、情报信息、选拔训练、后勤保障等方面进行了多角度的剖析,为进一步研究我国警卫理论提供借鉴。