Military Expenditures and Inequality: Empirical Evidence from Israel

Ucal, Meltem and Karabulut, Gokhan and Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin (2009): Military Expenditures and Inequality: Empirical Evidence from Israel.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine different shocks to Israel’s business cycle from 1960 to 2007 in terms of the relationship between military expenditures and inequality, Gini coefficient. We begin with the assumption that there is a direct effect of higher military expenditures on income inequality levels in Israel. To capture this, we use the structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model to conduct this kind of different shock analysis and find that military expenditures shock (a rise) has a statistically significant effect on the Gini coefficient index after the first 3 years. This finding implies that military expenditures policies lead to inequality (Gini coefficient) in Israel.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Military expenditures; income inequality (Gini coefficient); Israel; Structral VAR analysis.
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C1 - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General > C13 - Estimation: General; D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D30 - General; H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies > H56 - National Security and War

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