Evaluating the Labor-Market Effects of Compulsory Military Service

Thomas Bauer (), Stefan Bender (), Alfredo Paloyo and Christoph Schmidt

No 4535, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We identify the causal effect of compulsory military service on conscripts’ subsequent labor-market outcomes by exploiting the regression-discontinuity design of the military draft in Germany during the 1950s. Unbiased estimates of the effect of military service on lifetime earnings, wages, and employment are obtained by comparing men born before July 1, 1937 (the "White Cohort") who were exempted from compulsory military service to men who were born on or shortly after this threshold date and hence faced a positive probability of being drafted. We find that the putative earnings advantage and wage premium of those who served in the armed forces vanish when selection effects are taken into account.

Keywords: causal effect; quasi-experimental estimators; conscription (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2009-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published - published in European Economic Review 56(4):814–829

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Related works:
Journal Article: Evaluating the labor-market effects of compulsory military service (2012)
Working Paper: Evaluating the labour-market effects of compulsory military service (2009)
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