O'Sullivan, Vincent Aidan (2016) The effect of military service on earnings in Britain. Working Paper. The Department of Economics, Lancaster.
Abstract
I found no effect of military service on earnings in Britain using OLS. Using the abolition of conscription as an IV, I found that ex-military personnel earn about 20% less than comparable non-veterans. Men from wealthier backgrounds were penalized the most. Using OLS, there was no difference in earnings between former soldiers and those who never served. However, former air force and navy personnel earned more compared to those who did not serve in the military. Using IV to model for selection into the different military branches, there were no statistically significant effects on earnings