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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Is the Tradeoff between Defense Spending and Social Welfare an Illusion? Some Evidence from Tropical Africa |
Author: | Gyimah-Brempong, Kwambena |
Year: | 1989 |
Periodical: | Eastern Africa Economic Review |
Volume: | 5 |
Issue: | 2 |
Period: | December |
Pages: | 74-90 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs., ills. |
Geographic terms: | Subsaharan Africa Africa |
Subjects: | public expenditure defence social policy Economics and Trade Military, Defense and Arms Economics, Commerce social welfare Military expenditure economic development |
Abstract: | This paper employs a utility maximization two-stage budgeting framework and a simultaneous equation model to investigate budgetary trade-offs between defence and social welfare programmes in sub-Saharan Africa from 1973 to 1983. Using a W3SLS estimation procedure and cross-national time series data, the author finds a significant trade-off between defence and social services in budgetary allocation, with changes in defence budget share having a negative effect on the budget share of social services, while the reverse is not true. The author also finds that the pattern of budgetary allocation is influenced by external aid; external aid tends to increase defence budget share. Moreover, the oil-exporting African countries tend to spend a larger share of their budgets on defence than their non-oil-exporting counterparts. Finally, the occurrence of military coups increases the budget share of defence in tropical African countries. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |