Theories of budgetary tradeoffs

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20201615
AutoresAlex Mintz (Texas A&M University), Randolph T Stevenson (0000-0003-2565-1355, University of Rochester)
Año1995
Volumen7
Número4
Páginas586-612
Fecha de publicación1995-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Public Budgeting Accounting & Financial Management (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1096-3367 • E-ISSN: 1945-1814
EditorialEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/jpbafm-07-04-1995-b006
OpenAlexW206490801
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas31

The literature on defense-welfare tradeoffs has not been characterized by an emphasis on theory development. Indeed, most work has concentrated on using increasingly sophisticated statistical techniques to isolate empirical relationships in spending data on various countries. Unfortunately, however, this empirical enterprise has proven inconclusive, with some studies finding trade-offs and others not. In this paper, we suggest that a greater focus on theory development may help to resolve some of the empirical conflicts in this literature. In particular, we argue that there are at least two substantial bodies of theoretical work available that, while relevant to guns-butter questions, have remained to a large extent unexploited. One conclusion that we draw from this exercise is that the discussion of tradeoffs should probably move away form its current focus on primarily direct exchanges between spending on guns and butter, and instead begin to explore more indirect links which are acting through the economy

Economics · Empirical research · Epistemology · Market economy · Positive economics · Public economics · Welfare · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · Engineering · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth