Militarization, gender inequality, and growth: a feminist-Kaleckian model

Abstract

While some economic models exist on the nexus of military spending and economic growth, and comprehensive theory on the mechanisms through which militarization affects gender inequality, there are no structural models to show how military spending affects economic growth through gender inequality. This paper introduces a feminist-Kaleckian model to examine this mechanism. The main implication of the suggested model is that higher military spending is likely to increase gender inequality, and thereby reduce economic growth. This is because the marginal propensity to consume between men and women is different and military spending reduces the productive capacity of the economy in the long run.