---
title: "Both Guns and Butter? New Paper Shows Growth Benefits from Military Procurement"
summary: |-
  A new study shows that U.S. military spending helps to spur innovation and recent budget cut could slow economic growth.
date: "2014-04-28"
issues: ["Defense and National Security", "Science and R&D"]
authors: ["Robert D. Atkinson"]
content_type: "Op-Eds & Contributed Articles"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2014/04/28/both-guns-and-butter-new-paper-shows-growth-benefits-military-procurement/"
---

# Both Guns and Butter? New Paper Shows Growth Benefits from Military Procurement

Government plays an important role in R&D investment through spending on the military, but some have questioned whether this spending has real benefits for innovation. A new paper shows that military spending, specially defense procurement from U.S. businesses, stimulates more R&D and more patents than sales to civilians. The military buildup in the 1980s spurred innovation and defense cuts in the 1990s slowed it down. Unfortunately, recent budget cuts are likely to hurt innovation even more.

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2014/04/28/both-guns-and-butter-new-paper-shows-growth-benefits-military-procurement/*