Converting the Military Economy Through the Local State: Local Conversion Prospects in Massachusetts

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the state of Massachusetts which provides a useful case study for examining the role of the local state in advancing and limiting local conversion initiatives. There has been a good deal of debate as to what role defense spending has played in creating rapid growth in the Massachusetts economy in the 1970s and 1980s. The greater growth of the Massachusetts military economy is based on the state's disproportionate share of the fastest growing military economic sectors. The growth in high-technology defense spending, together with the Reagan military build-up as a whole, is reflected in increased employment in primary and secondary defense industries. The economic incentives for continued ties to the military translate into political barriers that limit political intervention by the local state on behalf of conversion. Political mobilization around the detrimental impact of progressive labor legislation and the need to maintain a favorable business climate has been instrumental in blocking the adoption of comprehensive federal and state plant closing legislation.