A new GLO Discussion Paper finds almost no statistically significant effects of a 6 to 9 month career interruption for young German men, with the exception of hourly wages.
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GLO Discussion Paper No. 835, 2021
Effects of Mandatory Military Service on Wages and Other Socioeconomic Outcomes – Download PDF
by Puhani, Patrick A. & Sterrenberg, Margret K.
GLO Fellow Patrick Puhani
Author Abstract: 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.
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