Conscription and Military Service: Do They Result in Future Violent and Non-Violent Incarcerations and Recidivism? A new GLO Discussion Paper by GLO Fellows Xintong Wang and Alfonso Flores-Lagunes

A new GLO Discussion Paper examines the effect of USA military service in Vietnam on incarceration outcomes, with effects among white volunteers and veterans in certain birth cohorts.

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Alfonso Flores-Lagunes

GLO Discussion Paper No. 751, 2021

Conscription and Military Service: Do They Result in Future Violent and Non-Violent Incarcerations and Recidivism? Download PDF
by
Wang, Xintong & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso

GLO Fellows Xintong Wang & Alfonso Flores-Lagunes

Author Abstract: Employing nonparametric bounds, we examine the effect of military service on incarceration outcomes using the Vietnam draft lotteries as a possibly invalid instrumental variable for military service. The draft is allowed to have a direct effect on the outcomes independently of military service, disposing of the exclusion restriction. We find: (i) suggestive but not strong statistical evidence that the direct effect of the draft increases the incarceration rate for violent offenses for a particular cohort of draft avoiders, and (ii) military service increases the incarceration rate for violent and nonviolent crimes of white volunteers and veterans in certain birth cohorts.

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GLO Discussion Papers are research and policy papers of the GLO Network which are widely circulated to encourage discussion. Provided in cooperation with EconStor, a service of the ZBW – Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, GLO Discussion Papers are among others listed in RePEc (see IDEAS,  EconPapers)Complete list of all GLO DPs – downloadable for free.

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