Eight Things You Should Know About Defense Spending and Inflation
Heidi Peltier, Economist and Costs of War Director of Programs (Senior Research Associate, Brown University), illustrates that while some lawmakers are calling on Congress to increase defense spending even above the historically high level requested by the Biden administration, citing current high rates of inflation, there is no reason to increase the fiscal year 2023 defense budget to account for current high prices for consumer goods and energy.
Inflation doesn’t impact each portion of the defense budget equally because an economy-wide inflation rate does not accurately capture how prices change for defense-specific purchases.
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Heidi Peltier has been a contributing author to the Costs of War project since its inception in 2010 and joined the staff in 2019. Peltier is an economist who has written on military-related topics including the employment impacts of military and other public spending; military contracting, or what she calls the “Camo Economy;” and other areas at the intersection of militarism and public finance. She has also written widely on the employment impacts of a transition to a low-carbon economy, and is the author of the book, Creating a Clean-Energy Economy: How Investments in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Can Create Jobs in a Sustainable Economy. Heidi has been interviewed in print, radio, and podcasts regarding her research on the employment impacts of military spending as well as on her research on the clean energy economy. She has presented her work at the U.N. Climate Change Conference, to various public officials at the state and federal levels in the U.S., and at conferences domestically and abroad. Heidi has served as a consultant with the U.S. Department of Energy, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the International Labor Organization, and various other organizations.
