ABSTRACT

It is often argued (Cummings, et al. 1980, 38-49) that the post-1973/4 expansion in military expenditures undertaken by the Persian Gulf States has led to competition between the military and civilian sectors for skilled labor. Furthermore, military expenditures are said to have preempted funds that might have otherwise been allocated to education and the improvement of human capital. As a result, it is argued, military expenditures in the region tended to frustrate the oil exporters’ ambitious economic-development programs, especially those of the less-populated oil-exporting countries.