Defense, Welfare and Growth: Perspectives and Evidence

Defense, Welfare and Growthbrings together leading scholars from the United States, Europe, and Asia in search of new perspectives on and answers to questions about how a country's defense burden might affect its welfare provision and economic growth, and vice versa. The essays are theoretical in nature, with chapters on methodology and political theory and a comparison of the historical experiences of a variety of developed and developing countries. The essays explore such topics as the causes for Britain's relative decline, the institutional setting for Japan's pursuit of comprehensive national security, the influence of military spending on the developmental paths of Asia's newly industrializing countries, and the patterns of business cycles and military hostility in the Middle East. These analyses offer new insights and often surprising findings about the relationship between defense burdens and the political economy, and are highly relevant to the ongoing scholarly andpolicy debates about the prospects of a peace dividend in the wake of the Cold War's demise.