ABSTRACT
Wars and the arms race have afflicted the Middle East at least since the 1950s, but the oil boom of the 1970s and early 1980s gave a powerful boost to the dimensions of military spending in the region. Labor force data are particularly poor in the less developed countries and most Middle Eastern countries are in that category. Both the major Middle Eastern oil exporting countries and the others in the region, Egypt, Syria and Jordan, are in the throes of a serious recession. The rich Arab states also financed, at least in part, arms imports to Egypt. The end of the oil boom at least provides some basis for our hopes that the leaders of the Middle Eastern countries will alter their policies and reduce their massive and onerous allocations to the military in favor of economic and social betterment of their people.
