Peter Bell Working Papers
Published December 2, 2025 | Version v1
Working paper Open

Military Spending On Natural Resource Extraction Projects

Authors/Creators

  • 1. ROR icon ORCID

Description

This article discusses the Canadian government's military spending and new ideas to increase capital investment in productive capacity towards procurement. As government policy drives growth in overall military spending to reach a target ratio to GDP, there are opportunities for new types of expenditures. For example, military involvement in primary metal production can have a multiplier effect. This paper presents a toy model and simulates total military spending over time, as if it were funding a copper mining project in Canada. 

Other

 

Keywords: Military, GDP, NATO, Mining

 


JEL Codes: 
B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches
 D7 - Production and Organizations 
 E6 - Policy Objectives ; Policy Designs and Consistency ; Policy Coordination 
 H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue 
 H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies 
 H57 - Procurement 
 K2 - Regulation and Business Law
 K23 - Regulated Industries and Administrative Law 
 L5 - Regulation and Industrial Policy
 L7 - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction
 O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products 
 O2 - Development Planning and Policy
 P11 - Planning, Coordination, and Reform
 P16 - Political Economy
 Q32 - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development
 Q33 - Resource Booms 

References  
Hellberg, R., Sprängare, D., Candell, O., Carpenfelt, C., Lundberg, K., Samuelsson, P., & Backlund, L. (2025), “Performance constraints in defence industry supply chains: evidence from case studies,” Defence and Peace Economics, 36(8), 1078–1113. https://doi.org/10.1080/10242694.2025.2500362

Soares, J., Letens, G., Vallet, G., Bockhaven, W.V., Herring, H.K., & Aken, E.V. (2021), “The defence performance measurement framework: measuring the performance of defence organizations at the strategic level,” Defence Studies, DOI: 10.1080/14702436.2021.1994394

Penney, C. E. (June 9, 2022), “Canada’s Military Expenditure and the NATO 2% Spending Target,” Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Ottawa, Canada.

Seabridge Gold Corp. (2022). “KSM (KERR-SULPHURETS-MITCHELL) PREFEASIBILITY STUDY AND PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT: NI 43-101 TECHNICAL REPORT,” https://ksmproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/KSM-2022-08-08-KSM-PFS-PEA-FINAL-sml.pdf 

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, (2025-05-27a), “2025–26 Expenditures by Purpose,” https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/planned-government-spending/government-expenditure-plan-main-estimates/2025-26-estimates/expenditures-purpose.html 

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, (2025-05-27b), “2025–26 Budgetary Expenditures by Standard Object,” https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/planned-government-spending/government-expenditure-plan-main-estimates/2025-26-estimates/budgetary-expenditures-standard-objects.html 

Files

2025-12-02-Ministry National Defence spending models (1).pdf

Files (258.8 kB)

Additional details

Dates

Created
2025-12-02
Work