Full Citation
Title: Exposure to risk and its impact on human capital : essays on combat exposure, military labor, and conflict duration
Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis
Publication Year: 2013
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Abstract: This dissertation examines the impact of contemporaneous American participation in war on military labor and conflict duration. Chapter one uses variation in occupation-specific retention bonuses and mortality risks observed in the U.S. Army during the war on terror to estimate the rate at which volunteers for active military service are willing to trade wealth and risk of death when making reenlistment decisions. Our estimate of the Value of Statistical Life among first-term soldiers is between $0.1M and $0.5M. Bonus policy is an effective tool for meeting near-term military manpower shortages. Increasing the bonus offer by $1,000 leads to an increase in the probability of reenlistment of 1.5 percentage points. Chapter two documents a substantial increase in the post-service one-year mortality rate of recent veterans using estimates constructed by matching Army administrative data to the Social Security Administration's Death Master File. The total mortality of service in the Army between 2001 and 2010 is likely understated by approximately 10% or over 350 deaths. Approximately 91% of the change in post-service mortality is due to the effect of exposure to high rates of mortality while in-service. The relationship between in-service and post-service mortality has likely always existed, but the higher rates of in-service mortality . . .
Url: https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/84907
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Authors: Yankovich , Michael, F
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department: Economics
Advisor: David Autor
Degree: PhD
Publisher Location: Cambridge, MA
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS CPS
Topics: Other
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