The determinants of military spending in the academic literature over the last fifty years: A survey of the main contributions and models

Although it is difficult to establish a classification of the models which analyze the determinants of defence expenditure due to their great heterogeneity, the present article takes as a starting point the contributions of Smith (1989) and Dunne and Perlo-Freeman (2003a y 2003b), to offer an alternative taxonomy of the theoretical studies proposed in the academic literature over the last fifty years. In particular, it establishes a division in three blocks: 1) Analysis of the external influences of military spending (models of arms races and economic theory of military alliances), 2) examination of the internal factors that reverberate on the design of the defense budget (Bureaucratic and Organizational Politics Models), and 3) empirical studies of the determinants of defence spending, which examine the effects of a wide combination of economic, political, and geostrategic variables on the military budget.