Should Education and Military Expenditures be Combined for Government Economic Policy?

Abstract

This article examines the impact of EDUMILEX, namely the ratio between investment in education and military expenditure, on economic performance. It uses panel data estimation methods for 60 countries over the period 2000–2018. The findings suggest the existence of a non-linear, cubic relationship between EDUMILEX and economic performance. In particular, EDUMILEX is positively associated with both GDP per capita and labor productivity. The results also show that the effect of EDUMILEX is heterogeneous across countries, with lower values of EDUMILEX required to increase economic performance in developed countries than developing ones.