Compulsory Military Service in Germany Revisited

Paloyo, Alfredo R.

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1707994

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Compulsory Military Service in Germany Revisited

Ruhr Economic Paper No. 206

29 Pages Posted: 14 Nov 2010

See all articles by Alfredo R. Paloyo

Alfredo R. Paloyo

Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI-Essen); Ruhr University of Bochum; University of Wollongong

Date Written: September 1, 2010

Abstract

This paper estimates the causal impact of compulsory military service on men in Germany using social security and pension administrative data for the cohort of individuals born in the period 1932–1942. Due to the combination of laws restricting conscription only to men born on or after July 1, 1937, difference-in-differences estimates of the effect of conscription on average daily wages can be computed using cohorts of women as a comparison group. The results indicate that conscription had no significant impact on a draftee’s labor-market performance, validating an earlier result using an alternative identification strategy.

Keywords: Difference in Differences, German Federal Defense Force

JEL Classification: J31

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Paloyo, Alfredo R., Compulsory Military Service in Germany Revisited (September 1, 2010). Ruhr Economic Paper No. 206, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1707994 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1707994