Regional Effects of Military Closures : The case of Sweden

Abstract

This paper concerns the effects of military closures on the local growth pattern in Sweden during the last decades. The main issue is to analyze to what extent the closures have affected the subsequent average income growth and net migration rates at the local level. The analysis is based on a data set covering Swedish municipalities with military bases during the period 1983-1998. Our main finding is that the closures have not had any significant impact on the subsequent income growth rate or the net migration rate in the affected minicipalities compared to other municipilaties. However, in accordance with previous studies based on Swedish data, we find the initial endowment of human capital to have a positive impact on the subsequent growth rate. ; Published in Defence and Peace Economics(ISSN 1024-2694)2007 vol 18 no 1 pp 87-97 doi:10.1080/10242690600924638Taylor & Francis.Changes may have been made in the published version.