Guns and butter? Military expenditure and health spending on the eve of the Arab Spring

Coutts, A., Daoud, A., Fakih, A., Marrouch, W. and Reinsberg, B. (2019) Guns and butter? Military expenditure and health spending on the eve of the Arab Spring. Defence and Peace Economics, 30(2), pp. 227-237. (doi: 10.1080/10242694.2018.1497372)

Abstract

We examine the validity of the guns-versus-butter hypothesis in the pre-Arab Spring era. Using panel data from 1995 to 2011 – the eve of the Arab uprisings – we find no evidence that increased security needs as measured by the number of domestic terrorist attacks are complemented by increased military spending or more importantly ‘crowd out’ government expenditure on key public goods such as health care. This suggests that both expenditure decisions were determined by other considerations at the government level.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Drs Coutts and Daoud are funded through the UK Research and Innovation GCRF RESEARCH FOR HEALTH IN CONFLICT (R4HC-MENA); developing capability, partnerships and research in the Middle and Near East (MENA) ES/ P010962/1.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Reinsberg, Dr Bernhard
• Authors: Coutts, A., Daoud, A., Fakih, A., Marrouch, W., and Reinsberg, B.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Defence and Peace Economics
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1024-2694
• ISSN (Online): 1476-8267
• Published Online: 18 July 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor and Francis Group
• First Published: First published in Defence and Peace Economics 30(2): 227-237
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy