Military occupation of land is a net economic loss for Okinawa

Evidence

Such findings should not be surprising: “bases are not corporations that accumulate capital and contribute to the growth of the local economy,” explains the Okinawa International University economist Moritake Tomikawa. Having land resources occupied by U.S. bases, he says, “is a huge economic loss for the prefecture.” With the military gradually returning base land, economists expect Okinawa’s diversifying economy to grow faster than that of any of Japan’s other prefectures. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 931

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: the economist’s insight that bases are a land opportunity cost rather than an engine, generalizable beyond Okinawa to any host country with scarce land.