Military Policy For Development

Abstract

The preceding chapters of this book have demonstrated that the evaluation of the costs and benefits of defence spending is a complex issue. Several portions of the military budget might, for example, yield civil benefits with the result that estimates of defence expenditure overstate the true economic cost. On the other hand, the purchase price of imported weaponry only tells a partial story in view of the ‘hidden’ operating costs that are associated with such items. Nevertheless, one fact remains clear — the military sector absorbs resources which might have an alternative use in the civil sector. Because of the net loss in social output which results from the allocation of resources to the military sector, a number of nations have become concerned to discover ways in which the burden of defence might be reduced, and in this chapter we shall consider a number of such methods.