Discussion Paper Series CDP 17/21 Effects of Mandatory Military Service on Wages and Other Socioeconomic Outcomes Patrick A. Puhani and Margret K. Sterrenberg Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration Department of Economics, University College London Drayton House, 30 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AX www.cream-migration.org Effects of Mandatory Military Service on Wages and Other Socioeconomic Outcomes Patrick A. Puhani Margret K. Sterrenberg May 2021 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. JEL classification: J12, J24, J47 KeyworDs: career breaks, conscription, wages, employment, life satisfaction, natural experiment Corresponding author: Patrick A. Puhani Margret K. Sterrenberg Leibniz Universität Hannover Leibniz Universität Hannover Institut für Arbeitsökonomik Institut für Arbeitsökonomik Königsworther Platz 1 Königsworther Platz 1 D-30167 Hannover D-30167 Hannover Germany Germany E-Mail:
[email protected] [email protected] AcknowleDgments: We thank Wolfgang Meyer, Maresa Sprietsma, Stephan L.