Japan is a shinning example of how having a pacifist government that has allowed the majority of government spending on civilian research, social programs and skills. As a result it has a strong technology based economy, although this may be due to the Japanese disciplined culture and their willingness to embrace new technology in order to achieve their cultures high standards of organisation and efficiency. But none the less the country spends comparably less of its budget on military weapons devopment when compared to other western 1st world nations. So my point is that you can have a dynamic economy that is stable and strong with a pacifist constitution and limited spendng towards the military.

Although I must say that the USA has shown how productive and useful a thorough military research program is to the economy. Meaning alot of technology and research used to give the capability to launch missiles to another continent has allowed for space exploration. the complex computers needed to control the silo launch systems have allowed the US to gain a strong economy through computers when the technology i transferred to a civilian platform. The invention of a lightweight armour - Kevlar has great opportunities for civilian uses. GPS is critical to civilian life too. The discovery of aluminium as a ignition source that offers almost 100% more thrust than conventional explosives allows missiles to be smaller but also allows space exploration to be more feasible as rockets can carry more and be smaller.
So military research allows for discoveries that can be applied to civilian platforms to give the countries economy a huge boost.

I am waiting for the fruits of nanotechnology from US or European researchers to give great results for civilian applications such as cloud seeding, absorbing polutants, repairing human tissue or even in manufacturing to compete with China and Indias huge cheap labour.

I am also excited about robotic technology that can also allow small populations to offer a cheaper alternative to Chinas and Indias cheap human labour but this I think will most likely come from Japanese or South Korean advances.