Quality vs. Quantity in Military Procurement

It is often argued that the same expenditures on military procurement would produce a more effective defense if larger numbers of less sophisticated (and thus cheaper) weapons were purchased. This paper shows that such a result can occur even if the military derives no private consumption value from technically sophisticated weapons. Rather, the organization of the decision-making process itself can produce this result. This suggests some possible solutions through organizing decision-making in a different fashion. Copyright 1990 by American Economic Association.