Brothers in Arms: Spillovers from a Draft Lottery

Arbeitspapier

Family members tend to have similar labor market outcomes, but measuring the contribution of behavioral spillovers is difficult. To identify spillovers between brothers, we exploit Denmark's largest random assignment of young men to 8 months of military service where service status of brothers is correlated but draft lottery numbers are not. We find average spillovers of elder brother service on younger brother service of 7 percent, and as high as 55 percent for closely spaced brothers without sisters. Elder brother military service affects his own occupational choice and his younger brother's service through private information, thereby encouraging volunteering.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 10483

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: Public Policy ; Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs ; National Security and War
• Subject: peer effect ; social interactions ; family networks ; military service ; draft lottery

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Bingley, Paul ; Lundborg, Petter ; Vincent Lyk-Jensen, Stéphanie
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/161106
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET