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In Defense of the Military-Industrial Complex
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13149 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1987 |
3,137 Words |
| Author
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Dwight R. Lee
Dwight R. Lee is professor of economics and holder of the
Ramsey Chair in Private Enterprise Economics at the University
of Georgia. |
Of all government activities, none is more important than the provision of national defense. If government does not adequately defend our borders, its other activities will be of no consequence. Although informed differences exist over the proper size of the military budget, there can be no debate over the fact that an adequate national defense requires a sizable resource commitment. The crucial importance and enormous expense of national defense do much to explain the attention and criticism that are directed at waste in military spending. It is not easy to tolerate waste in programs that are so vital to our security and exert so large a claim on our national income. All government expenditure programs attract special interests that benefit from and contribute to waste in those programs. But it is the special interests organized around military appropriations that have been singled out for special criticism and contempt.
Does the military-industrial complex deserve its negative reputation? Probably not. This is not to deny the military-industrial complex's control over defense appropriations and practices. But the enormous waste that results from special-interest influence over the military budget provides reasons for condoning, rather than condemning, that influence. The problem with critics of the military-industrial complex is that either they proceed from a naïve view of the political process or, having taken a realistic view, they fail to follow that view to its logical conclusion. The purpose of this paper is to provide a defense of what has become pejoratively known as the military-industrial complex without abandoning the principle of economic freedom or the devotion to a free society.
The Important Consumer
National defense is, in the terminology of economists, a public good. Unlike most goods, once a public good is provided it is nonrival in consumption, that is, the benefits that one receives in no way reduce the benefits that others receive. The benefit of national defense, moreover, cannot practically be denied to some while made available to others. Not only can I benefit from the security my neighbor receives from national defense; it is difficult to prevent me from doing so. From the perspective of each individual then, there is little motivation to contribute to national defense. If others contribute, I can benefit as a free rider; and if others do not contribute, my contribution will be useless. The demand for national defense simply cannot be transmitted effectively through voluntary purchases in the
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