Defence Industrialisation, Technology Transfer and Choice of Techniques in LDCs

Abstract

There has been growing concern in recent years, among analysis of disarmament, regarding the increasing volume of arms trade and transfer of military technology from advanced industrial nations to LDCs. The mechanics of the international trade in arms is well documented (SIPRI, 1982). Recent studies have generally emphasised the political and security aspects of the matter (see Cardesman, 1981; Pierre, 1982). On the other hand Sen and Smith (1982) have shown how important economic issues of arms sales can be modelled within a formal framework. The emphasis in much of the work mentioned above lies with the supplier countries and their analysis focusses mainly on the sellers of armaments. In this paper we concentrate on the recipient LDCs and analyse the impact of defence expenditure in the context of armament imports, domestic production of strategic equipment and technology transfers.