Dodging a Draft: Gary Becker's Lost Paper on Conscription

Arbeitspapier

Gary Becker wrote what may be the first economic analysis of conscription. Less than a decade later, economists played a key role in an important public policy debate during the Vietnam War, which eventually led to abolishment of the military draft. Becker had connections to many of those economists who studied the economics of conscription, and his paper foreshadowed many of the ideas in that literature. Despite this, none cited his paper on conscription. We discuss this history and speculate on this puzzle.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 14284

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: conscription ; labor market public policy

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Gibbs, Michael ; Perri, Tim
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2021

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/236315
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET