TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Puhani, Patrick A.
AU  - Sterrenberg, Margret K.
        TI  - Effects of Mandatory Military Service on Wages and Other Socioeconomic Outcomes
        PY  - 2021/May/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 14352
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp14352
        AB  - 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.
        KW  - natural experiment
KW  - career breaks
KW  - life satisfaction
KW  - employment
KW  - wages
KW  - conscription
        ER  -