Economic development in ECOWAS countries

The countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are currently experiencing growing insecurity leading to an increase in military spending in the zone. The aim of this doctoral thesis is therefore to examine the determinants and effects of military expenditure on economic development in ECOWAS countries. Organized into three (03) essays this analysis covers thirteen (13) countries over the period 2000 to 2018. Dynamic panel data are used and come from World Development Indicators (WDI 2018) International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI 2018) Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED 2018) International Country Risk Guide (ICRG 2018). Tests for dependence panel homogeneity unit root cointegration and endogeneity were carried out before the estimation technique was chosen. The first test analyzed the explanatory factors of military expenditure using the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator. The results show that the explanatory factors for military spending are economic and strategic.