Can a draft induce more human capital investment in the military?

Tim Perri

Economics Bulletin, 2013, vol. 33, issue 2, 905-913

Abstract: We consider the possibility a draft increases the likelihood individuals will invest in human capital in the military. This possibility exists because those drafted have less time to reap the return from human capital investment since, with a volunteer military, one need not enlist. A draft is more likely to increase human capital investment in the military the larger the civilian return to human capital investment, the shorter the additional time one must spend in the military if one invests while enlisted, and the larger the cost to an individual of obtaining a deferment.

Keywords: Conscription; volunteer military; human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H5 J2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-04-03
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2013/Volume33/EB-13-V33-I2-P87.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Can A Draft Induce More Human Capital Investment in the Military? (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-12-00714

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Economics Bulletin from AccessEcon
Bibliographic data for series maintained by John P. Conley (j.p.conley@vanderbilt.edu).