Effects of Mandatory Military Service on Wages and Other Socioeconomic Outcomes

Patrick Puhani and Margret K. Sterrenberg ()
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Margret K. Sterrenberg: Leibniz University of Hannover

No 14352, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper, we estimate the effects of mandatory military service by exploiting the post-cold war decrease in the need for soldiers causing a substantial number of potential conscripts not to be drafted into the German military. Specifically, using previously unavailable information on degree of fitness in the military's medical exam as a control variable, we test for the effects of mandatory military service on wages; employment; marriage/partnership status; and satisfaction with work, financial situation, health, family life, friends, and life in general. We find almost no statistically significant effects of this 6 to 9 month career interruption for young German men, with the exception of hourly wage, which shows a negative point estimate of -15 percent with a large confidence interval of between -30 and -0.2 percent. This interval estimate is consistent with previous findings for the United States, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

Keywords: natural experiment; career breaks; life satisfaction; employment; wages; conscription (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J24 J47 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2021-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap and nep-lab
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Published - revised version published as 'Effects of Mandatory Military and Alternative Community Service on Wages and Other Socioeconomic outcomes' in: Kyklos , 2022, 75 (3), 488 - 507

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Related works:
Working Paper: Effects of Mandatory Military Service on Wages and Other Socioeconomic Outcomes (2021)
Working Paper: Effects of Mandatory Military Service on Wages and Other Socioeconomic Outcomes (2021)
Working Paper: Effects of Mandatory Military Service on Wages and Other Socioeconomic Outcomes (2021)
Working Paper: Effects of Mandatory Military Service on Wages and Other Socioeconomic Outcomes (2021)
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