The Portuguese Military Expenditure from a Historical Perspective

Abstract

Over a period of more than a century and a half (1852–2019), military expenditure in Portugal reached its highest values in the contexts of the Great War (1914–1918) and the Colonial War (1961–1974). In almost every year between these two conflicts, military expenditure was the most important sector within the structure of the Portuguese State. However, with the end of the Colonial War and Portugal’s entry into Democracy, there was a clear shift in this pattern. Since 1975, military expenditure has ceased to be the most important sector of the Portuguese State, and currently plays only a very reduced role, while social spending has today supplanted it as the most significant sector. Through the estimation of a dynamic model, it proved possible to identify some of the positive and negative effects of military spending on the Portuguese economy during the period 1874–2018. These results are a possibility that is supported by the theoretical framework.
KEYWORDS:

• Military expenditure
• Portugal
• Colonial War
• Great War
• economic growth

Description