Officer retention and military spending
The rise of the military-industrial complex during the Second World War
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3322151 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ahmed S Rahman (0000-0002-2829-0666, Lehigh University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 73 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1074-1096 |
| Publication date | 2020-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Economic History Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-0117 • E-ISSN: 1468-0289 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ehr.12940 |
| OpenAlex | W2785020601 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 26 |
This article examines how the regional distribution of US military personnel contributed to military expenditures around the country. We first discuss a theory of political economy for military spending-officers who remain in service can eventually help channel military funds and employment to their respective regions of origin, through direct military spending decisions or indirect political channels. Further, if officer retention is positively related to less industrialization at home (fewer work opportunities at home induce greater service lengths), this channel will induce greater progressiveness in military spending. To test these ideas we use the personnel records of officers serving in the US Navy from 1870 to the late 1930s. Tracking the tenure of all officers, we construct measures of 'military representation' across US counties. Through ordinary least squares, Tobit, and instrumental variable approaches, we find that senior naval officer representation across regions positively and robustly predicts regional naval spending (but not spending from other branches) during the Second World War
Business · Demographic economics · Economics · Management · Military operations other than war · Military personnel · Military science · Military service · Military sociology · Navy · Officer · Ordinary least squares · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics) · Service (business) · Spanish Civil War · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · Economic Growth and Productivity · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Law · Marketing
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |