Civil Versus Military R & D Expenditures and Industrial Productivity

This paper centres upon the economic interrelations between civil versus military expenditures for research and development, labour productivity and incomes. It starts from the proposition that in general the average growth of productivity in the economy will not be raised, if the share of military R & D expenditures in government-funded R & D expenditures is increased. This proposition is first discussed on theoretical grounds. Then, by means of an international comparison, some tentative empirical evidence will be presented to this controversial issue.