Trade costs, conflicts, and defense spending

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of International Economics
Year: 2015
Volume: 95
Issue: 2
Pages: 305-318

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper develops a quantitative model of trade, military conflicts, and defense spending. Lowering trade costs between two countries reduces probability of an armed conflict between them, causing both to cut defense spending. This in turn causes a domino effect on defense spending by other countries. As a result, both countries and the rest of the world are better off. We estimate the model using data on trade, conflicts, and military spending. We find that, after reduction of costs of trade between a pair of hostile countries, the welfare effect of worldwide defense spending cuts is comparable in magnitude to the direct welfare gains from trade.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:inecon:v:95:y:2015:i:2:p:305-318
Journal Field
International
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-29