Can Compulsory Military Service Increase Civilian Wages? Evidence from the Peacetime Draft in Portugal / David Card, Ana Rute Cardoso.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Card, David.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Cardoso, Ana Rute.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w17694.

NBER working paper series no. w17694

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2011.

Summary:

Although military conscription was widespread during most of the past century, credible evidence on the effects of mandatory service is limited. We provide new evidence on the long-term effects of peacetime conscription, using longitudinal data for Portuguese men born in 1967. These men were inducted at a relatively late age (21), allowing us to use pre-conscription wages to control for ability differences between conscripts and non-conscripts. We find that the average impact of military service for men who were working prior to age 21 is close to zero throughout the period from 2 to 20 years after their service. These small average effects arise from a significant 4-5 percentage point impact for men with only primary education, coupled with a zero-effect for men with higher education. The positive impacts for less-educated men suggest that mandatory service can be a valuable experience for those who might otherwise spend their careers in low-level jobs.

Notes:

Print version record

December 2011.