The Place of Defense in Economic Schools

For ages, war and peace have been an inseparable part of human life. Hence, the need for defensive power, military forces and the demand for weaponries has been an important issue of societies and governments. Freedom, independence, security, the preservation of the boundaries of the borders as well as citizens, are considered as the most important tasks of the statesmen in any country. Therefore, in responding to these needs, governments should allocate some share of their budget resources to defensive affairs. However, defense and security should not be dependent on market fluctuations. The economy of defense and security of every country should be in full stability, because during periods of crisis and uncertainty, the demand for defense and security increases. Considering the scarcity of resource, it is evident that the subject of economic defense has always been the subject of economists' attention. It is not clearly known that which scientist has introduced the term "economics of defense" into scientific discussions for the first time. It appears that a German philosopher and mathematician introduced the term military economics into economics literature in the late seventeenth century in which the relationship between military activities and economics was explained. In this study, we aim to explain in detail the defense economics and its place in various economic schools.