Military Economics

Military power needs to be financed and economic development is often shaped by military conflict, thus the interaction of military and economy, power and money is central to the modern world. This book provides an accessible introduction to the economics of the use of organized force, with a wide range of historical and current examples.

'The mathematical and statistical language of defence and peace economics has long been incomprehensible to many students of security and the military. In Military Economics, Britain's leading defence economist resolves this with an accessible synthesis of the technical literature and provides an authoritative survey of the key interactions between military power and money. This book is essential reading for academics and practitioners interested in relationships between the military dimensions of economics and conflict.' - Professor Matt Uttley, King's College London, UK

'This outstanding book makes an original contribution to the economic analysis of the military sector. The author uses his extensive knowledge of the field to present a highly readable, non-technical and scholarly treatment of why money matters to the military. This is a classic text in applied economics.' - Keith Hartley, University of York, UK

'This is an excellent and long needed book on the complex and important issues of military economics. It is comprehensive, accessible, well written and incisive, and will become an essential reference for professionals, politicians, activists, academics and students as well as the informed lay person. A real tour de force by an academic at the peak of his powers.' - J Paul Dunne, Professor of Economics, The British University, Egypt and UWE, Bristol

RON SMITH is Professor of Applied Economics at Birkbeck, UK, where he teaches Econometrics and Statistics. He has written extensively on applied econometrics and defence economics and is on the editorial boards of Defence and Peace Economics and the Journal of Peace Research and is an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute.