[en] End-of-the-Cold-War economic realities include political jockeying over the future of weapons systems, a paucity of meaningful conversion efforts, and a suspicion that a weak economy will be unable to compensate for the loss of jobs and purchasing power as defense budgets are reduced. The authors of this book present three interrelated hypotheses: The first is that the existence of a large military production sector has depleted the civilian economy of key resources and has preempted creation of the kind of broad-base civilian-oriented industrial policies needed for economic revitalization. The second is that a large military production sector creates barriers to the movement of resources. The third is that economic depletion and the barriers to moving resources to civilian production make conversion planning essential. This book explains why conversion is difficult, but offers only a few pages of specific conversion proposals