Defense Spending and Economic Growth in Subsaharan Africa: Comment on Gyimah-Brempong

Gyimah-Brempong (1989) examined the effect of military spending on the economic growth of Subsaharan African countries using a simultaneous-equations model. He concluded that military expenditure had a negative impact on economic growth. However, the revision of his analysis shows that his reported results are weak and do not support his policy conclusions, because the calculated value of the defense burden/growth rate multiplier is not statistically significant.