Abstract
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We present, and seek feedback on, the initial stages of a proposed research project, in which we plan to
examine the effects of conscription in Australia. We focus on our aims and methodology. During 1965-72,
twenty year old Australian men were required to register for the National Service military ballot. We will
investigate the long term effects of conscription on the standard of living and social outcomes of conscripts. Key
outcomes of interest include employment, education, income, disability, and marital status. Our innovative
methodology exploits the ballot’s random assignment of a higher probability of military service. Previous
Australian studies have only examined health outcomes, have not exploited the randomness of the ballot, and
have ignored servicemen who stayed in Australia. We seek to disentangle the effect of temporary removal from
the civilian labour market from the effect of combat and the direct and indirect effects of cash and noncash
government benefits after repatriation. The institutional details of Australia’s conscription experience will allow
us to make several contributions to the international literature on the effects of military service, such as the
effect of non-combat service amongst men who did not serve abroad. Until recently, the necessary data to
implement this study were not available. Our preliminary investigations suggest that conscription had very large
effects on the employment and disability rates of National Servicemen. We seek to reconcile this with the US
experience, where conscription seemed to have little or no effect on either employment or disability.