Few studies have focused on the impact of military administrations on the economy. The present study therefore examines the relative efficiency of economic management and the relative performance of the economy under military rule in sub-Saharan Africa. A military regime is defined as a corrective, ad hoc leadership, in existence for no longer than five years before voluntarily handing back power to civilian rule. After examining the theoretical debates on the efficiency of civilian and military regimes in managing the economy, the author discusses the economic and statistical criteria used in the evaluation, and presents and discusses the empirical results. The findings suggest that military regimes generally tend to reduce the capital formation ratio, domestic savings ratio, net inflow of direct foreign investments, and pace of economic growth, while increasing the share of government expenditure in the GDP, the pace of monetary growth, and the rate of inflation. In addition, a change to a military regime generally tends to worsen a country’s current account balance and overall balance of payments position. Bibliogr., sum.
