Military Service and Future Earnings Revisited

Asali, Muhammad (2017): Military Service and Future Earnings Revisited.

Abstract

Utilizing particularities in the Israeli laws and regulations, that exempt married women and ultra-orthodox Jewish men from military service, we provide evidence about the effects of compulsory military service on future earnings of veterans. The quasi-experimental estimates suggest that women experience a 4.6 percent military wage premium, while men experience a premium of 11.6 percent. These effects are far smaller than those experienced by minority groups, confirming the common notion in this literature. Finally, the discrepancies we found between the naïve and the consistent estimates suggest that people who voluntarily avoid service are those who face the highest opportunity costs of service.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Compulsory military service; quasi-experiment; early marriage; ultra-orthodox; majority
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J15 - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants ; Non-labor Discrimination; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J24 - Human Capital ; Skills ; Occupational Choice ; Labor Productivity; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J31 - Wage Level and Structure ; Wage Differentials

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