Original Posting by David Mosher et.al. on July 24, 2023*
As part of the legislative process, the Congressional Budget Office supplies the Congress with cost estimates for legislation, economic and budget projections, and other economic assessments. Information from the research community is an important element of CBO’s analyses. This is the sixth in a series of blog posts discussing research that would enhance the quality of the information that CBO uses in its work. (Earlier posts in the series discussed the need for new research in the areas of energy and the environment, finance, health, labor, and macroeconomics.) Please send comments to communications@cbo.gov.
The Department of Defense (DoD) received about $850 billion in funding in 2023. With those funds, DoD hires personnel (members of the military and civilian employees) and purchases a variety of goods and services from private-sector companies. Some of the purchased goods, such as aircraft carriers, fighter jets, and nuclear submarines, are highly complex weapon systems. CBO is on the lookout for new research on various topics related to DoD’s personnel and weapon systems, including the implications of the military’s use of in-kind compensation and the causes of, and future trends in, sector-specific inflation. CBO is currently working on those topics, and there are significant gaps in the relevant research literature.