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Swedish Veterans After Bosnia: The Relationship Between Military Deployment and Labour Market Marginalisation

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Abstract

The well-being of the Swedish peacekeepers deployed to Bosnia in the 1990s has received a great deal of attention over the years. Yet, despite concerns, very little is known about how these military veterans have fared on the labour market after returning home. In this paper, I provide novel evidence on the relationship between military deployment to Bosnia and adverse outcomes on the labour market. The analysis is based on longitudinal administrative data for a sample of 2275 young Swedish veterans who served as peacekeepers in Bosnia at some point during the years 1993–1999. I follow these veterans for up to 20 years after deployment. Using propensity score matching based on a rich set of covariates, I estimate the effects of deployment on three broad measures of labour market marginalisation: long-term unemployment, work disability, and social-welfare assistance. I find no indication of long-term labour market marginalisation of the veterans. Even though the veterans experienced an increase in the risk of unemployment in the years immediately following return from service, in the long run their attachment to the labour market is not affected negatively by their service.

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  • Bäckström, Peter, 2023. "Swedish Veterans After Bosnia: The Relationship Between Military Deployment and Labour Market Marginalisation," Umeå Economic Studies 1011, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:umnees:1011
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Peacekeeping; Bosnian war; military veterans; labour market marginalisation; propensity score matching;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • J45 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Public Sector Labor Markets

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