Demand for Education and Labour Market Outcomes: Lessons from the Abolition of Compulsory Conscription in France
Abstract
In this paper we examine the effects of the abolition of the compulsory conscription in France on the demand for education and labour market outcomes. The reform took place in 1997 and affected all men born after 1979. Before the reform, staying on in education was a way to defer the national service and get access to more interesting forms of the military service. After the reform, these specific incentives to stay on in education have disappeared and the relative cost of education for men has plausibly increased. As a matter of fact, our data reveal that the reform has been followed by a significant decrease in the number of years spent at school by male students, as well as in the proportion of male degree holders. In contrast, the reform had no significant effect on the demand for education for women nor for men of high socio-economic background. We use this exogenous variation in the demand for education to estimate the effect of education on wages as well as on the probability of being in a manual job at the early stage of one’s career.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 4946.
Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
(with abstract),
plain text
(with abstract),
BibTeX,
RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite),
ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: Mar 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4946
Contact details of provider:
Postal: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 77 Bastwick Street, London EC1V 3PZ
Phone: 44 - 20 - 7183 8801
Fax: 44 - 20 - 7183 8820
Order Information:
Email:
For corrections or technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().
Related research
Keywords: demand for education; natural experiment; wages;Other versions of this item:
- Eric Maurin & Theodora Xenogiani, 2007. "Demand for Education and Labor Market Outcomes: Lessons from the Abolition of Compulsory Conscription in France," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(4).
- I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
- J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2005-06-14 (All new papers)
- NEP-EDU-2005-06-14 (Education)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- A. Rosolia & P. Cipollone, 2004. "Social Interactions in Schooling," Econometric Society 2004 North American Winter Meetings 335, Econometric Society.
- Carneiro, Pedro & Heckman, James J., 2002.
"The Evidence on Credit Constraints in Post-Secondary Schooling,"
IZA Discussion Papers
518, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Pedro Carneiro & James J. Heckman, 2002. "The Evidence on Credit Constraints in Post--secondary Schooling," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 705-734, October.
- Pedro Carneiro & James J. Heckman, 2002. "The Evidence on Credit Constraints in Post-Secondary Schooling," NBER Working Papers 9055, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Imbens, G. & Van Der Klaauw, W., 1993.
"Evaluating the Cost of Conscription in the Netherlands,"
Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers
1632, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
- Imbens, Guido & van der Klaauw, Wilbert, 1995. "Evaluating the Cost of Conscription in The Netherlands," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 207-15, April.
- Imbens, G. & Van Der Klaauw, W., 1993. "Evaluating the Cost of Conscription in the Netherlands," Working Papers 93-24, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
- John Bound & Sarah E. Turner, 1999.
"Going to War and Going to College: Did World War II and the G.I. Bill Increase Educational Attainment for Returning Veterans?,"
NBER Working Papers
7452, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- John Bound & Sarah Turner, 2002. "Going to War and Going to College: Did World War II and the G.I. Bill Increase Educational Attainment for Returning Veterans?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(4), pages 784-815, October.
- Angrist, Joshua & Krueger, Alan B, 1994.
"Why Do World War II Veterans Earn More Than Nonveterans?,"
Journal of Labor Economics,
University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(1), pages 74-97, January.
- Alan B. Krueger & Joshua D. Angrist, 1989. "Why do World War II Veterans Earn More Than Nonveterans?," NBER Working Papers 2991, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Joshua Angrist & Alan Krueger, 1989. "Why Do World War II Veterans Earn More Than Nonveterans?," Working Papers 634, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
- Angrist, Joshua D, 1990.
"Lifetime Earnings and the Vietnam Era Draft Lottery: Evidence from Social Security Administrative Records,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 80(3), pages 313-36, June.
- Joshua Angrist, 1989. "Lifetime Earnings and the Vietnam Era Draft Lottery: Evidence from Social Security Administrative Records," Working Papers 631, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
- Thomas K. Bauer & Stefan Bender & Alfredo R. Paloyo & Christoph M. Schmidt, 2009. "Evaluating the Labor-Market Effects of Compulsory Military Service - A Regression-Discontinuity Approach," Ruhr Economic Papers 0141, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
- Thomas Lemieux & David Card, 1998.
"Education, Earnings, and the "Canadian G.I. Bill","
NBER Working Papers
6718, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Thomas Lemieux & David Card, 2001. "Education, earnings, and the "Canadian G.I. Bill"," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 34(2), pages 313-344, May.
- Catherine Bruno & Sandrine Cazes, 1997. "Le chômage des jeunes en France : un état des lieux," Revue de l'OFCE, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(3), pages 75-107.
- Andrea Ichino & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2004. "The Long-Run Educational Cost of World War II," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(1), pages 57-86, January.
- Joshua D. Angrist, 1995.
"Estimating the Labor Market Impact of Voluntary Military Service Using Social Security Data on Military Applicants,"
NBER Working Papers
5192, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Joshua D. Angrist, 1998. "Estimating the Labor Market Impact of Voluntary Military Service Using Social Security Data on Military Applicants," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(2), pages 249-288, March.
- Michèle Mansuy & Nicolas Herpin, 1995. "Le rôle du service national dans l'insertion des jeunes," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 283(1), pages 81-95.
- De Tray, Dennis, 1982. "Veteran Status as a Screening Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(1), pages 133-42, March.
- David Card, 2000.
"Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems,"
NBER Working Papers
7769, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Card, David, 2001. "Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1127-60, September.
- Sandrine Cazes & Catherine Bruno, 1997. "Le chômage des jeunes en France : un état des lieux," Revue de l'OFCE, Programme National Persée, vol. 62(1), pages 75-107.
- Card, David, 1999. "The causal effect of education on earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 30, pages 1801-1863 Elsevier.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso, 2011. "Can Compulsory Military Service Increase Civilian Wages? Evidence from the Peacetime Draft in Portugal," NBER Working Papers 17694, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Poutvaara, Panu & Wagener, Andreas, 2009.
"The Political Economy of Conscription,"
IZA Discussion Papers
4429, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Panu Poutvaara & Andreas Wagener, 2009. "The Political Economy of Conscription," CESifo Working Paper Series 2821, CESifo Group Munich.
- Piero Cipollone & Alfonso Rosolia, 2011.
"Schooling and youth mortality: learning from a mass military exemption,"
Temi di discussione (Economic working papers)
811, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
- Cipollone, Piero & Rosolia, Alfonso, 2011. "Schooling and youth mortality : learning from a mass military exemption," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5680, The World Bank.
- Cipollone, Piero & Rosolia, Alfonso, 2011. "Schooling and Youth Mortality: Learning from a Mass Military Exemption," CEPR Discussion Papers 8431, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Card, David & Cardoso, Ana Rute, 2011. "Can Compulsory Military Service Raise Civilian Wages? Evidence from the Peacetime Draft in Portugal," IZA Discussion Papers 5915, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Keller, Katarina & Poutvaara, Panu & Wagener, Andreas, 2009.
"Does Military Draft Discourage Enrollment in Higher Education? Evidence from OECD Countries,"
IZA Discussion Papers
4399, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Katarina Keller & Panu Poutvaara & Andreas Wagener, 2009. "Does Military Draft Discourage Enrollment in Higher Education? Evidence from OECD Countries," CESifo Working Paper Series 2838, CESifo Group Munich.
- Alfredo R. Paloyo, 2010. "Compulsory Military Service in Germany Revisited," Ruhr Economic Papers 0206, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
- V. Albouy & L. Lequien, 2007. "Education and health," Documents de Travail de la DESE - Working Papers of the DESE g2007-02, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques, DESE.
- Donata Bessey & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2008. "Dropping out and revising educational decisions: Evidence from vocational education," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0040, University of Zurich, Institute for Strategy and Business Economics (ISU).
- Bauer, Thomas & Bender, Stefan & Paloyo, Alfredo & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2011.
"Do Guns Displace Books? The Impact of Compulsory Military Service on Educational Attainment,"
IZA Discussion Papers
5744, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Thomas K. Bauer & Stefan Bender & Alfredo R. Paloyo & Christoph M. Schmidt, 2011. "Do Guns Displace Books? – The Impact of Compulsory Military Service on Educational Attainment," Ruhr Economic Papers 0260, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4946For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ().
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

