Greece, Portugal, Spain: New evidence on the economic effects of military expenditure using the new SIPRI data

Abstract

This article first compares old with newly updated and extended SIPRI military expenditure data for Greece, Portugal, and Spain. Using the new data to confirm or reject earlier findings, it then replicates a Solow growth model application employed in a 2012 study by Dunne and Nikolaidou. In addition, the article provides new evidence on the military expenditure–economic growth nexus for these three countries using the extended data that now cover the post-global financial crisis and European debt crisis years. The use of the new SIPRI data does not lead to rejection of the earlier findings for Greece and Portugal but does reject the formerly negative and statistically significant effect of military burden on growth for the case of Spain.