noted that similarities between military and civilian prices and price movements are likely to be stronger in the market-type economies making up the present sample of participating countries than in other potential participants, such as centrally planned economies, where the homogenizing influence of market forces is less present. / . . . A/40/421 English Page 45 C. Purchasing-power par ities 117. The Group has constructed PPPS for participating States for their military expenditures on different levels of aggregation. The overall PPPs and those Of the main Cost Categories are shown in table 11 (a) while the PPPs for subcategories within the category of operating costs are presented in table 11 (b). For subcategories within the other main cost categories , no PPPS were constructed by the Group. 118. Concerning table 11, the following observations might be made: (a) The PPPs of the subcategories are very different for each of the participating States which should be an important aspect to consider, if negotiations would focus on only a part of the military expenditures or if Special limitations would be negotiated for certain cost categories? (b) The differences between the PPPS of each country indicate a distribution of cost advantages among participating States. For example, on the one hand, the United States seems to have a cost advantage with regard to procurement and Construction in relation to all other participants, while those, on the other hand, seem to have an advantage over the United States regarding operating costs. This advantage is even slightly more pronounced for those States having conscripts. Although this tendency may not be very surprising the differences between the disaggr egated PPPs may l however, be greater than one might have expected. A larger amount of comparable data on procurement and construction could presumably help to confirm or to improve the results obtained by the Group, 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the comparison of military expenditures between different countries, with a focus on purchasing power parities (PPPs) and the construction of PPPs for different levels of aggregation. The text also mentions the differences in costs between countries, particularly with regards to procurement and construction, and operating costs. This suggests that the text is related to economic issues and international comparisons.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade