Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/29920 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
Ruhr Economic Papers No. 141
Publisher: 
Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI), Essen
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 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.
Subjects: 
Causal effect
quasi-experimental estimators
conscription
JEL: 
J31
ISBN: 
978-3-86788-159-3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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