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This article examines whether a significant part of Argentina's military budget over a 22-year span can be attributed to an arms race with Brazil. Multiple regression equations are estimated for the period 1961 and 1982 and several subperiods, taking into account Brazil's military spending, changes in political regimes in Argentina, and also the availability of economic resources allocated to the government. The results indicate that the rivalry existed until the mid-l970s. As a result of increased economic cooperation between the two countries since then, the arms race has gradually diminished, and other factors have become more important in determining defense spending levels in Argentina.

This article examines the economic determinants of military spending levels in developing countries through a time-series analysis of 10 Latin American countries. The paper integrates a number of main themes in the defense economics literature. The results indicate that a large proportion of the observed variability in military budgets can be explained by one of four alternative models that include either economic variables (gross domestic product and either government revenues or government expenditures) or military budget levels lagged one year, or both. A major conclusion is that it is difficult to predict which of the four models is most appropriate for each country; a priori knowledge of a state's oil exports, regime type, indigenous weapons production, or relative resource constraints is of little help. Since no common model was found, forecasts that use economic variables should be done on a case-by-case approach, also considering the timing of fiscal impacts.

This article analizes whether budget allocations to nondefense programs in Argentina between 1961 and 1982 are dependent on the share to defense, the political regime, or both. Multiple regression equations are estimated and include the defense share, two control variables, and political dummies to test for changes in the intercept and slope of the equation as the regimes change

Whether the effect of defense expenditures on economic growth is different in countries which produce major weapons and those which do not.

Using a macro-economic model, the authors aim at forecasting economic growth in Argentina, especially its military expenditures. They note that it is extremely hazardous to forecast defence expenditures in developing countries without explicitly taking into account the macro-economic priorities of the government, the policy constraints facing the authorities and the timing of their policy responses

Die empirische Analyse der wirtschaftlichen und militärpolitischen Profile von 21 Staaten Lateinamerikas und der Karibik zeigt, daß nicht nur die Höhe der militärischen Ausgaben entscheidend dafür ist, ob ein Staat zum Waffenproduzenten wird. Erforderlich ist auch ein ökonomisches Umfeld, das diesen Importsubstitutionsprozeß profitabel erscheinen läßt. Daneben ist der Zugang zu ausländischen Märkten ausschlaggebend. (SWP-Mgr)