Post-Cold War U.S. base closures did not damage Germany’s overall economy

Evidence

In Germany, the Bonn International Center for Conversion conducted an authoritative study of U.S. base closings after the Cold War, primarily using the Pentagon’s own data. It showed that between 1991 and 1995, the U.S. military returned around a hundred thousand acres of base land to the German government and withdrew 75 percent of its forces, or almost two hundred thousand troops. Annual U.S. military spending in Germany dropped by around $3 billion. Because most U.S. troops have been concentrated in Rheinland-Pfalz, Bavaria, and three other states in southern Germany, some regions and communities where U.S. troops were based were “seriously impacted” by the drawdown. Across the country, although 34,500 Germans lost civilian jobs, representing about 0.04 percent of the country’s population and 1 percent of the labor force, the study found, the closures and reductions had no “significant effect on Germany’s economy as a whole.” — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 926

Categorization

• XREF: Provides the quantitative backbone for the book’s broader claim that host countries would survive and even benefit from base removals.