Resumen de Effiency evaluation of NATO member nations from a defence economics perspective

Mónica Domínguez Sánchez, Juan Aparicio Baeza , Antonio Fonfría Mesa

• The main objective of this article is the evaluation of the efficiency and its evolution over time of 27member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). We analyse the relationshipbetween defense expenditure and the spending on military personnel as well as how security isperceived by citizens. To this end, a data panel for the years 2010 to 2017 has been used, consistingof various inputs at the macroeconomic level and one output, associated with the performance ofthe defense sector of NATO countries. For this, a production function has been estimated basedon Data Envelopment Analysis methodology. According to the results obtained, the countries showhigh efficiency rates, around 80% with an increasing trend of 2.5% in the period studied. Thus,the estimated average technical efficiency was approximately 85.3%, that is, the NATO countriesanalyzed could increase their citizen security index by around 14.7 % without modifying the resourcesused in their defense.