STRUCTURAL BREAKS IN MILITARY EXPENDITURES: EVIDENCE FOR EGYPT, ISRAEL,JORDAN AND SYRIA

This paper endogenously determines the timing of structural breaks in military expenditures and military burdens for the major parties involved in the Israeli-Arab conflict, namely Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Syria over the period 1960-2004. Utilizing a test proposed by Vogelsang (1997), we find that all these countries experienced structural breaks, though at different periods in the late 70s and during the 80s. These structural breaks mark a sharp decline in the military burden that can be attributed to the peace talks that were initiated shortly after the 1973 war. When applying the Bai and Perron (1998, 2003) multiple structural break tests we detect two structural breaks for every country. The first break occurred during the 60s and demonstrated a significant rise in the military burden prior to the 1973 war, whereas the second break occurred in the late 70s and during the 80s and was characterized by a sharp decline in the military burden following the instigation of peace negotiations.Military Expenditures, Military Burden, Middle-East, Israeli-Arab Conflict, Structural Breaks.

ON THE DYNAMICS OF THE ISRAELI-ARAB ARMS RACE

This paper investigates the causal relationships between the military expenditures and military burden of the four major sides of the Israeli-Arab conflict, namely, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Syria over the period 1960-2004. We utilize both the causality test suggested by Toda and Yamamoto (1995) and the generalized forecast error variance decomposition method of Pesaran and Shin (1998). Our findings suggest weak causality that runs usually from Israel’s to Arab’s military spending. The strongest links are between Israel and Syria that are still in a state of enmity. No causality was detected between Israel’s and Jordan’s military spending.Arms race, Middle East, Israeli-Arab conflict, Causality, Generalized Forecast Error Variance Decomposition

THE IMPACT OF GATT ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE: EVIDENCE FROM STRUCTURAL BREAK ANALYSIS

In this study we test for structural changes in international trade patterns of 77 countries over the post-WWII period, to examine if they experienced a substantial increase in their trade ratios following major GATT rounds such as the Kennedy Round, or after joining GATT. Our results show that trade ratios of most of these countries exhibited structural breaks in their time paths, however, most of the postbreak paths were below the extrapolated prebreak paths. Furthermore, while the significant break years coincided closely with major regional and international events such as the oil shocks of the 70s and the East-Asian financial crisis in 1997, they occurred far before or after the time of a country's accession to GATT or the time of the major GATT rounds.International Trade, Trade Liberalization, Structural Change, Oil Shocks, Kennedy Round, East Asia, Financial Crisis.

The Demand for Military Spending in Egypt

Egypt plays a pivotal role in the security of the Middle East as the doorway to Europe and its military expenditure reflects its involvement in the machinations of such an unstable region, showing considerable variation over the last forty years. These characteristics make it a particularly interesting case study of the determinants of military spending. This paper presents such a study, estimating an econometric model of the Egyptian demand for military spending, taking into account important strategic and political factors. Both economic and strategic factors are found to play a role in determining military burden, with clear positive effects of lagged military burden, suggesting some sort of institutional inertia, plus negative output and net imports effects. The main strategic effect is the impact of Israel’s military burden, with no effect for that of the Jordanian and Syrian allies, but the results also suggest that simple arms race relationships are not an adequate representation of the relevant strategic factors.Egypt, demand for military expenditure, political determinants, strategic determinants

The Demand for Military Spending in Egypt

Egypt plays a pivotal role in the security of the Middle East as the doorway to Europe and its military expenditure reflects its involvement in the machinations of such an unstable region, showing considerable variation over the last 40 years. These characteristics make it a particularly interesting case study of the determinants of military spending. This paper specifies and estimates an econometric model of the Egyptian demand for military spending, taking into account important strategic and political factors. Both economic and strategic factors are found to play a role in determining military burden/spending, with clear positive effects of lagged military burden, suggesting some sort of institutional inertia, plus negative output and net exports effects. The strategic effect as a result of the impact of Israel's military burden is mostly positive and significant, though its impact is reduced when the impact of important strategic events are taken into account. The military spending of Egypt's allies Jordan and Syria generally seems to have had no effect on Egypt's spending. These results are consistent over a range of econometric techniques. © 2013 © 2013 Taylor & Francis

THE IMPACT OF GATT ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE: EVIDENCE FROM STRUCTURAL BREAK ANALYSIS

In this study we test for structural changes in international trade patterns of 77 countries over the post-WWII period, to examine if they experienced a substantial increase in their trade ratios following major GATT rounds such as the Kennedy Round, or after joining GATT. Our results show that trade ratios of most of these countries exhibited structural breaks in their time paths, however, most of the postbreak paths were below the extrapolated prebreak paths. Furthermore, while the significant break years coincided closely with major regional and international events such as the oil shocks of the 70s and the East-Asian financial crisis in 1997, they occurred far before or after the time of a country's accession to GATT or the time of the major GATT rounds.International Trade, Trade Liberalization, Structural Change, Oil Shocks, Kennedy Round, East Asia, Financial Crisis.

On the dynamics of the Israeli-Arab arms race

This article investigates the causal relationships between the military expenditures and military burden of the four major sides of the Israeli-Arab conflict, namely, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Syria over the period 1960-2004. We utilize both the causality test suggested by Toda and Yamamoto [Toda, H. Y., & Yamamoto, T. (1995). Statistical inference in vector autoregressions with possibly integrated processes. Journal of Econometrics, 66, 225-250] and the generalized forecast error variance decomposition method of [Pesaran, M. H., & Shin, Y. (1998). Generalized impulse response analysis in linear multivariate models. Economics Letters, 58, 17-29]. Our findings suggest weak causality that runs usually from Israel's to Arab's military spending. The strongest links are between Israel and Syria that are still in a state of enmity. No causality was detected between Israel's and Jordan's military spending.Arms race Middle East Israeli-Arab conflict Causality Generalized forecast error variance decomposition