An empirical note on external debt and defence expenditures in Turkey

Abstract

It is often argued that defence expenditures, and in particular arms imports, are one of the main reasons for the recent increasing trend of Turkey's external debt. This paper empirically examines the relationships between Turkey's defence expenditure and external debt for the period 1979-2000 using Engle-Granger methodology. The findings show no clear evidence of defence-debt relationships for the period analysed.