Defense Promotion and Industrial Development

Speaker: Nathan Lane (London School of Economics) will present his forthcoming report, Defense Promotion and Industrial Development. 

The report examines whether defense promotion can drive industrial development beyond the defense sector. Drawing on empirical evidence, Nathan Lane assesses the role of R&D support, public procurement and defense related innovation, tracing their effects from firm level investment and innovation to productivity and wider economic spillovers. With a particular focus on Europe’s rearmament, he distils five lessons for designing defense policy to generate broader industrial and economic value.

Germany is set to spend almost €140 billion on defense in 2027. At a time of rapidly expanding defense budgets and growing pressure to strengthen Europe’s security and industrial base, the report addresses an important question: how to design this spending to foster innovation and strengthen industrial capacity across the economy.