Military Economics: The Interaction of Power and Money » (New Edition)

RON SMITH is Professor of Applied Economics at Birkbeck, UK where he teaches econometrics and statistics. He has written extensively on applied econometrics and defence economics and is on the editorial boards of Defence and Peace Economics and the Journal of Peace Research and is an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute.

Military power needs to be financed and economic development is often shaped by military conflict, thus the interaction of military and economy, power and money is central to the modern world. This book provides an accessible introduction to the economics of the use of organised force, with a wide range of historical and current examples.

1 Introduction 1

2 Power and money 19

3 Security : are we safe? 54

4 Military spending : how much is enough? 88

5 Force acquisition I, demand : the biggest bang for a buck? 118

6 Force acquisition II, supply : merchants of death? 138

7 Military capability : how to win? 149

8 Economic choices : swords or plowshares? 159

9 Understanding military economics 172

Acknowledgements 179

Abbreviations 180

References 182

Index 188