Estimating Iran’s Military Expenditures Demand Function

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 M.A. in financial mathematics, Allameh Tabatabaei University

2 P.H.D. in Economics, Faculty at Islamic Azad University, Yadegar Imam Branch

Abstract

Military expenditures are of the most important expenditures which any country has to pay attention to it in order to protect its security and homeland. There are different factors including national income, population, strategic situation and neighbor countries’ military expenditues that affect military expenditures of a country. Considering this, we try to estimate Iran’s military expenditures demand function using factors such as GDP, oil exports income, population, military expenditures of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel and Pakistan, and the dummy variable of U.S. army presence in the region during Afghanistan war. The demand function was estimated for the period 1980 to 2015 using ARDL regression analysis. Results show that the effect of Pakistan and Turkey military expenditures is negative on Iran’s military expenditures and an increase in Israel and Saudi Arabia’s military expenditures increases Iran’s expenditures on this matter. GDP has a negative effect on this. The effect of population and the dummy variable is also positive on military expenditures

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