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Introduces a series of articles on the economics of military affairs in Turkey and Greece.

Using a new set of data from Greek Army sources, US military archives, and Communist Party documents, the paper provides a quantitative analysis of the armed confrontation that took place in Greece during 1946–1949. A dynamic Lotka–Volterra model is estimated, pointing to the existence of a conflict trap that explains the prolongation of the civil war and its dire consequences for the country. A regional analysis finds that the mobilization of guerrilla forces was crucially affected by morphology and the local persecutions of political rivals. Using neoclassical growth-accounting, the economic cost of the conflict is estimated to surpass an annual GDP, in line with similar findings in contemporary civil wars. The same framework is employed to assess the outcome in counterfactual situations discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks into the Greek-Turkish arms race a decade after an earlier contribution to the issue that relied heavily on artificial neural networks. The time period between the two papers contributes to the reliability of the results derived, not just by increasing the number of observations, but also mainly by incorporating the progress made in the realm of artificial intelligence. The focus on the case of both countries unlike the paper mentioned above that dealt with just the Greek side provides ample room for comparative purposes regarding the determinants of defense expenditure on both sides. The results derived in terms of input significance estimation support the findings of the earlier research as indicated above, pointing to the leading role of the demographic preponderance of Turkey over Greece. The paper also points to the fact that 10 years later, Turkey continues to set the arms race rules against its rival by determining the defense expenditure of Greece, whereas the role of the latter in affecting the military spending of Turkey is non-existent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing Turkish-Greek antagonism has triggered the interest of defense economists to investigate the various aspects of the arms race between Turkey and Greece. However, empirical studies examining the long-run relationship between the military expenditures of the two countries offer little evidence in favor of such an interaction. This paper attributes the poor results of the previous literature to the adherence to linear cointegration techniques and argues that if the adjustment towards long-run equilibrium is asymmetric, nonlinear co-integration models should be employed. Accordingly, this paper considers threshold autoregressive (TAR) and momentum threshold autoregressive (M-TAR) models as alternative adjustment processes for the cointegration relationship, following Enders and Siklos (2001). The results indicate that the relationship between the variables can be characterized by a threshold cointegration specification following an M-TAR type adjustment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue that this paper tackles is the assessment of the relative security benefits that Cyprus and Greece derive in the context of their cooperation on defence matters. This form of cooperation, known as the 'Integrated Defence Space Doctrine', aims at defending their interests in the Aegean Sea and the broader East Mediterranean theatre. The paper relies heavily on earlier research on this topic, which deals with the Greek-Cypriot alliance facing an arms race against Turkey, and uses a coefficient especially designed to assess the optimal levels of security and the associated defence expenditure of the two allies. A comparison of the relative security coefficient values for the two allies suggests that the security benefit that Greece derives thanks to its alliance with Cyprus exceeds the corresponding Cypriot benefit by far. Given the importance assigned to human resources by this index, in conjunction with the demographic problems of Greece, this conclusion justifies the recent Greek defence policy revision, emphasizing quality, capital equipment and flexibility of forces. This revision aims at satisfying the security requirements of the alliance and the increasing demands of an arms race against Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scope of this paper is to forecast the extent to which a settlement of the Cyprus issue may be possible given the decisions taken during the Copenhagen EU summit. It aims, in addition, at investigating the possibilities of improvement in Greek-Turkish relations which may lead, in turn, to reducing the arms race between the two countries. The paper uses a Genetically Evolved Certainty Neuron Fuzzy Cognitive algorithm to consider a number of scenarios examining the possible reactions of all sides involved in the Cyprus issue, namely Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, the Turkish-Cypriot community that the international environment. All simulation exercises suggest that the Greek and the Cypriot side should not necessarily rely on the decisions taken during the Copenhagen summit conference. The forecasts point out, in addition, that the optimism of the Greek government concerning the outlook of its relations with Turkey, and a subsequent reduction of the arms race against it, is far from being justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of the sovereign debt crisis at the end of 2009 in Greece led to a severe recession, and constant economic problems. This paper investigates military expenditure among others as a potential factor to the growth of sovereign debt in Greece over the period 1960 until currently. Our empirical findings suggest that high deficits, inflation and military spending have been the primary causes of debt growth in Greece. The structural break models reveal a much higher effect of deficits and inflation in the post-1990 period while the threshold switching regression, based on the level of sovereign debt, indicate that for levels of debt-to-GDP ratio above 90% deficits, inflation and military expenditures had significantly more pronounced effects on government debt changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the peace dividend effect of Turkish convergence to EU membership. By employing a multi-region dynamic CGE model, we examine the prospect for conflict resolution if Turkey becomes an EU member. The model allows us to analyse several scenarios that imply varying amounts of reduction of the military expenditure/GDP ratios. On the one hand, this change will cause a decrease in sectoral demand for military expenditures, while on the other hand, reallocation of the reduced expenditure on (i) education, (ii) tax decrease, and (iii) infrastructure, should have a huge growth impact. Our dynamic CGE simulation experiments emphasize the economic gain for all parties involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimating demand functions for developing countries before and after the end of the Cold War, Dunne and Perlo-Freeman (2003) found little evidence of any change in the underlying relationship. One concern with their analysis was that the use of cross-section averages might have obscured important time series effects. This paper deals with this issue by analysing their data using static and dynamic panel data methods. This produces evidence of a change in relationship and suggests that the focus in the literature on cross-section analyses has indeed limited our understanding of important dynamic processes at work within countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By European Union and NATO standards, Greece consistently allocates substantial human and material resources to defence. The Greek defence burden (i.e. military expenditure as a share of GDP) has invariably been appreciably higher than the EU and NATO averages. The paper applies an autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) to present cointegrated estimates of the demand function for Greek military expenditure, in which domestic political factors and external security determinants are incorporated. Our empirical findings suggest that Greek defence spending over the period 1960-1998 has been influenced by both external security concerns, namely Turkey, as well as changes in the domestic political scene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greece yearly allocates a substantial part of its national income to defence and its defence burden is the highest among EU and NATO members. To meet the demand for military hardware it relies almost exclusively ranking among the largest conventional arms importers in the world. Despite efforts to develop a domestic defence industry, indigenous production only covers a limited proportion of Greece's demand for military equipment. The majority of weapons, including sophisticated and technologically advanced systems, are imported from the major arms producers. This paper critically surveys the Greek Defence industrial base, its structure and recent performance, and assesses its future options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviews the literature on the economics of military affairs in Turkey and Greece as of December 1999. Arms race models; Models of the demand for military expenditure; Models measuring the economic impact of military expenditure.

Arms races are linked in the public conscience to potential violence. Following gas discoveries in eastern Mediterranean, Greece and Turkey nearly came to blows in August 2020 and both states have enacted military expansion plans, further risking escalation. We present a novel approach to study the effect of military build-ups on dispute intensity, using monthly data on Turkish incursions into Greek-claimed airspace. Because airspace claims feature strongly in the dispute, these contestations represent an appropriate measure of the intensity with which Turkey pursues the conflict. Theoretically, we suggest that bilateral factors drive this intensity. We argue that increased Greek military capabilities deter incursions whereas increased Turkish military capabilities fuel them. Results from time-series models support the second expectation. Consequently, the study provides a novel methodological approach to studying interstate conflict intensity and shines new light on escalation dynamics in the Greek-Turkish dispute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deals with a study which estimated the potential benefits from defense spending reductions that would accrue in the case of Greece. Use of a Computable General Equilibrium model of the Greek economy based on the 1988 Social Accounting Matrix; Discussion of Greek security concerns and defense spending; Benefits of defense spending reductions.

Over the last three decades, we have widely witnessed the peculiar relationship between tourism and incidents of political instability. Responding to the urgent call for additional empirical inquiries, we conducted an econometric study, using the VAR-EGARCH-DCC model, on the regional tourism interdependency (volatility) between four Eastern Mediterranean countries, namely Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Israel. Monthly arrival data from 1987 to 2012, along with a series of political instability variables collected from machine-coded databases, were utilized to model effects and to add empirical substance to contemporary and emerging theories. Our findings are relevant to industry stakeholders in that they explore tourism demand and volatilities. The findings indicate a positive effect on tourism demand in the presence of verbal or material cooperation between a destination country and others. In contrast, when investigating verbal conflict between a destination country and others, our findings reveal a negative impact on tourist arrivals and an increase in volatility in the destination country. Finally, in our investigation of incidents of material conflict, we saw a strong negative impact on tourist arrivals in all four destinations, accompanied by a significant increase in volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two NATO allies, Greece and Turkey, have also been considered potential threats to each other. Thus, these countries' military spending has been subject to many academic studies to observe if these potential threats trigger the military spending of both countries. Nonetheless, most regression results of those studies did not find a significant result supporting the arms race between the two countries. The current study provides an additional empirical evaluation of military spending of both countries by using an annual data set running from 1958 to 2004. The study is in spirit of Smith et al. (2000) employing a Markov switching approach, but utilizing a longer period. A Markov switching approach allows estimation of military spending of each country if both sides compete with each other to have higher spending or if they behave independently of each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that examined the effect of military expenditure on the profitability of the Greek economy from 1962 to 1994. Background of the correlation between military expenditure and the economy; Impact of military expenditure on the net profit rate; Influence of military expenditure on the general Marxian profit rate.

Presents a study which investigated the possible relationship between the military expenditures of Turkey and Greece. Introduction to Smooth Transition Regression models; Empirical results; Conclusions.

Introduces a relative security measure to evaluate the impact of arms races on the military security of allies. Arms race between Greece and Turkey; Benefits of introducing such measure and applying it using neural networks; Multiply activated multi-layer perceptron neural network architecture; Simulation results of the networks forecasts of the measure in the context of various arms race scenarios.