A plethora of arguments from the 'public choice school' suggest that public goods are 'under-supplied' by comparison with public sector provision of more private goods. The implication is that rent seeking by the 'military-industrial complex' serves, in some measure, to offset potential...

We analyse the determinants of the number of military personnel, military expenditure and arms imports using a panel data of all available countries with data from 1984-2006. The number of military personnel increases with the extent of external threat and with conscription. There is evidence...