2010 Lewis Fry Richardson Lifetime Achievement Award: Ron P. Smith and the Economics of War and Peace

The document outlines the academic career and research of Ron P. Smith, a leading defence economist. It details his work on the economic impacts of military spending, the dynamics of the international arms trade, and the application of econometric methods to peace research. The text highlights Smith's influence on military planning and his critical approach to quantitative methods in conflict research.

• Ron P. Smith's early research utilized a Marxist perspective to argue that military spending is essential for the survival of capitalism as an international system, though he rejected the 'Keynesian militarism' theory that military spending drives economic growth.
• Research by Smith and colleagues indicates that military expenditure can have detrimental effects on investment and economic growth, particularly in less developed countries.
• Analysis of UK military spending suggested that reducing expenditure to 3-5% of GDP, if matched by compensating programs, could increase employment by approximately 100,000 jobs.
• A comparative study of France and Britain found that while both shared strategic similarities, France grew faster and spent less on defence relative to GDP, while pursuing greater autonomy from the USA.
• Smith's research on the arms trade suggests that promoting arms exports is not commercially profitable; instead, it is driven by strategic and political goals and sustained by an economic lobby.
• Following the Cold War, the international arms market saw a significant increase in concentration, with the share of the five largest firms rising from just over 20% in 1990 to 45% in 1998.
• Empirical studies of the Greek-Turkish arms race failed to find evidence of the action-reaction dynamics described in the original Richardson model, though some cointegration between their military expenditures was observed.
• Smith has critiqued 'quantitative peace research' for an over-reliance on formal rules and statistical significance at the expense of substantive interpretation and replicability.

APA

Bove, V., & Gleditsch, K. S. (n.d.). 2010 Lewis Fry Richardson Lifetime Achievement Award: Ron P. Smith and the Economics of War and Peace. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0f5e43c2-a2e5-4fa8-aa72-9c7de18cb7cd/2010 Lewis Fry Richardson Lifetime Achievement Award Ron P Smith and the Economics of War and Peace.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Bove, Vincenzo, and Kristian Skrede Gleditsch. 2010 Lewis Fry Richardson Lifetime Achievement Award: Ron P. Smith and the Economics of War and Peace. Peace Research Institute Oslo, n.d. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0f5e43c2-a2e5-4fa8-aa72-9c7de18cb7cd/2010 Lewis Fry Richardson Lifetime Achievement Award Ron P Smith and the Economics of War and Peace.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bove |first1=Vincenzo |last2=Gleditsch |first2=Kristian Skrede |title=2010 Lewis Fry Richardson Lifetime Achievement Award: Ron P. Smith and the Economics of War and Peace |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0f5e43c2-a2e5-4fa8-aa72-9c7de18cb7cd/2010 Lewis Fry Richardson Lifetime Achievement Award Ron P Smith and the Economics of War and Peace.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bovend2010, author = {Bove, Vincenzo and Gleditsch, Kristian Skrede}, title = {{2010 Lewis Fry Richardson Lifetime Achievement Award: Ron P. Smith and the Economics of War and Peace}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0f5e43c2-a2e5-4fa8-aa72-9c7de18cb7cd/2010 Lewis Fry Richardson Lifetime Achievement Award Ron P Smith and the Economics of War and Peace.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }