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Does peacetime military service affect crime? New evidence from Denmark’s conscription lotteries

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  • Lyk-Jensen, Stéphanie Vincent

Abstract

While military service is thought to promote civic values, evidence on its benefits on criminal behavior is mixed. This paper uses the Danish draft lottery to estimate the causal effect of peacetime military service on post-service criminal convictions. The data includes the entire universe of eligible men born 1976–1983. I find that military service does not affect crime in general or any kind of crime in particular, nor does it reduce crime for juvenile offenders. However, I find a temporary disruption in the educational path at age 25, but no impact on the likelihood of being unemployed.

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  • Lyk-Jensen, Stéphanie Vincent, 2018. "Does peacetime military service affect crime? New evidence from Denmark’s conscription lotteries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 245-262.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:52:y:2018:i:c:p:245-262
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2017.11.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Bäckström, Peter & Hanes, Niklas, 2023. "The Impact of Peacekeeping on Post-Deployment Earnings for Swedish Veterans," Umeå Economic Studies 1010, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    2. Savčić, Ružica & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos & Xefteris, Dimitrios, 2020. "Conscription and Educational Outcomes: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from the Republic of Cyprus," GLO Discussion Paper Series 628, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Gabriela Ertola Navajas & Paula A. Lopez Villalba & Martin A. Rossi & Antonia Vazquez, 2022. "The Long-Term Effect of Military Conscription on Personality and Beliefs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(1), pages 133-141, March.
    4. Hjalmarsson, Randi & Lindquist, Matthew J., 2018. "Labour economics and crime," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 147-148.
    5. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia & Erdal Tekin, 2020. "Post-9/11 War Deployments Increased Crime among Veterans," NBER Working Papers 27279, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Bingley, Paul & Lyk-Jensen, Stéphanie Vincent, 2024. "Recruiting effective soldiers: Comparing Danish conscripts and volunteers deployed to peace-keeping and peace-enforcing missions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. M. Amelia Gibbons & Martín A. Rossi, 2022. "Military Conscription, Sexist Attitudes and Intimate Partner Violence," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(355), pages 540-563, July.
    8. Bäckström, Peter, 2023. "Empirical Essays on Military Service and the Labour Market," Umeå Economic Studies 1012, Umeå University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crime; Military service; Draft lottery; Criminal behavior;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War

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