The Political Economy of Military Base Redevelopment

Abstract

The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, initiated in 1988 to regulate U.S. military base closures and realignments, has been through five rounds and resulted in the closure of 121 major bases. Once the government decides to close a base, the property is commonly transferred to local communities for reuse. The design of the BRAC process tied the hands of Congress and limited political influences over bases chosen for closure. Although BRAC constrains conventional political motivations at the closure stage, researchers have overlooked the political economy issues related to the evolution of BRAC legislation and of base redevelopment after a military installation is slated for closure. This paper fills this gap by examining the post-closure process with emphasis on the epistemic limitations facing political actors in designing the redevelopment process to achieve economic prosperity and the incentives this creates for rent-seeking behavior.

Keywords: Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC); economic knowledge; military base redevelopment; political economy; rent seeking

JEL Classification: P16, D72, H77, R58