Arbeitspapier

Effects of Mandatory Military Service on Wages and Other Socioeconomic Outcomes

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.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 14352

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
Coercive Labor Markets
Thema
career breaks
conscription
wages
employment
life satisfaction
natural experiment

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Puhani, Patrick A.
Sterrenberg, Margret K.
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
(wo)
Bonn
(wann)
2021

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:45 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Puhani, Patrick A.
  • Sterrenberg, Margret K.
  • Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Entstanden

  • 2021

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