The policy of Arms’ economy in Iran considering regional arms competitions

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the policy making of Iran's arms economy with regard to arms race in the West Asian region. For this purpose, the average defense burden (the share of military expenditure in gdp by percentage) of the West Asian countries is used as an index of arms race. The results of the model estimation with Johansen method show that if there is a large arms race (when the average defense burden of the West Asian countries is greater than 5.9%), the defense spending should be increased in order to enhance the country's economic growth and the country's politicians and planners spend defense spending on expanding advanced military industries. But if there is low arms race (when the average defense burden is less than 5.9% in the West Asian countries) and security is provided, it is recommended that resources be transferred from defense to other sectors that incraced economic growth (such as education and health), Accelerated the country's economic growth. Also, based on the estimation of the factors affecting the military expenditures in the West Asian countries by the Generalized Method of Momentum (GMM), it can be said that reducing dependence on oil revenues and promoting democracy will play an important role in enhancing the arms race of these countries. In addition, the endorsement of strong arms race between the countries of the West Asian region and the positive impact of the spread of terrorism on the military spending in the countries of the region shows that if this region have enough military and political stability, can more economic growth was expected for countries in this region by replacing the economic development spending with military spending.