La Chair in Defence Economics - IHEDN and the Military School Documentation Centre (CDEM) co-organised a conference on 23 January to present the special issue of Defence and Peace Economics devoted to French issues and coordinated by Julien Malizard. This event is part of the CDEM's 10th anniversary celebrations.
This event enabled authors to present their articles:
- Julien Malizard pointed out that the field of defence economics remains under-represented, both among the other disciplines that make up strategic studies (law, political science, history, geography, etc.) and within economics. Nevertheless, recent initiatives have helped to revitalise the field. The aim of this special issue is to highlight the importance of economic issues for defence policy, as well as the potential relevance of this work for economics.
- Jacques Aben discussed the relevance of military spending as a measure of a nation's power. Defence, as a sovereign activity, is obviously a relevant indicator of power, even if its budgetary contours are difficult to grasp. Moreover, the concept of defence is also fundamentally incomplete and by adding a set of budgetary elements, it is possible to show that the share of public spending linked to power is close to 3.5% of GDP.
- Josselin Droff analysed recent trends in the geographical organisation of maintenance in operational condition (MCO). Based on a small model, the location choices are examined: either all MCO activities are concentrated in a single location, thereby achieving economies of scale, or activities are decentralised to two locations, thereby minimising transport costs and the «operational social cost». The choices made over the last fifteen years are moving in the direction of greater economic rationality, but historical forces are also at work.
- Marianne Guille has studied recent developments in the funding of defence R&D. The defence sector's share of funding has fallen sharply since 1980, and the share of direct funding received from the Ministry of Defence is declining, with indirect funding (notably research tax credits) now the preferred method. This change in funding structure has not called into question the central role played by defence companies in the national innovation system, thanks to their investment in fundamental research.
- Antoine Pietri presented an empirical study linking the intensity of civil conflicts and arms exports over the period 1992-2014. In the economic literature, there are two opposing viewpoints: for some, exports are likely to stabilise the parties to a conflict, while for others the opposite effect is expected. An econometric model designed to estimate the determining variables in the explanation of conflicts indicates that French arms exports tend to reduce the intensity of conflicts (unlike other arms exports). Two explanations are put forward: France chooses its trading partners cautiously and the weapons sold are more defence-related than those sold by the rest of the world.
