We explore how institutional set-ups, in particular changes in political institutions through coups d’état, can affect the way military expenditures are determined. We use a counterfactual approach, the synthetic control method, and compare the evolution of the military burden for 40...

This paper investigates the effect of military involvement in politics on budgetary allocations for defence. We employ a variety of econometric models, including pooled OLS and panel data with fixed effects and control for other known determinants of military spending. To deal with endogeneity...

We present a case study analysis of the impact of coups d'état on defence spending. We use the synthetic control method and compare the evolution of the defence burden for countries affected by coups with the evolution of an artificial control group. We find that successful coups determine a...

This paper explores to what extent the receipt of funding during Ph.D. encourages post-degree research career and influences research productivity after graduation. Using novel data on new Ph.D. graduates from Italian universities, I estimate the causal effect of funding on either the likelihood...

This paper presents a theoretical model and empirical evidence from 22 OECD countries to highlight how governments may use the tradeoff between social and military expenditure to advance their electoral and partisan objectives. Three basic results emerge. First, governments tend to bias outlays...

The relationship between trade and foreign-policy goals has led to growing debates in the field of international economics and international relations. Most studies are cross-national and use interstate disputes to proxy the national security interests. We focus on the U.S., the world’s...

The post-cold war period is characterized by peace operations and negotiations, with increased size, number, and intensity of external interventions, particularly those sponsored by multilateral organizations. This article examines some factors that influence the demand for peacekeeping...

We explore the supply side of peacekeeping – the determinants of a country’s voluntary contributions to peacekeeping operations. We focus on troop contribution and examine a large set of operations, from UN-led missions to operations led by NATO, the African Union, the European...

The post-cold war period is characterized by peace operations and negotiations, with increased size, number, and intensity of external interventions, particularly those sponsored by multilateral organizations. This article examines some factors that influence the demand for peacekeeping...

This paper addresses the relationship between the level of violence and the opium market in Afghanistan’s provinces. We first provide an overview of the nature and extent of the Afghan drug trafficking. This is followed by a VAR analysis of the nexus opium-insurgency activities using monthly...