The Impact of Defence Expenditures on Government Debt, Budget Deficit, and Current Account Deficit: Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries

Abstract

Although there are many studies on the effect of defence expenditures, which have a significant share in government expenditures, on various macroeconomic variables, there are very few studies on their effects on government debt, budget deficit and current account deficit. In this paper, the effect of defence expenditures on government debt, budget deficit, and current account deficit is empirically analyzed by system GMM analysis employing annual data from 16 developed and 9 developing countries for the period 2000-2019. The findings of the paper show that defence expenditures are important factor to determine government debt, budget deficit and current account deficit.