ABSTRACT
Military spending is an important issue for the international economy. It is an expenditure by governments that has influence beyond the resources it takes up, especially when it leads to or facilitates conflicts. At the same time most countries need some level of security to deal with internal and external threats, but these can certainly have opportunity costs as they can prevent money being used for other purposes that might improve the pace of development. Such issues are particularly important for developing countries, as in the post-Cold War world most wars have been internal and have involved the poorest countries, and this is unlikely to change.
