🚨 Job Market Paper 🚨
If 6 million individuals *voluntarily* put themself in a life-and-death situation, what drove them to make that choice?
My job market paper examines how perceived fairness affected the decision to voluntarily enlist in the US during WW2 #EconJMP #EconJMC #EconTwitter
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If 6 million individuals *voluntarily* put themself in a life-and-death situation, what drove them to make that choice?
My job market paper examines how perceived fairness affected the decision to voluntarily enlist in the US during WW2 #EconJMP #EconJMC #EconTwitter
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Comments
▶️ 12 million draftees and 6 million volunteers during WW2
▶️ 20% of Gallup respondents perceived the draft as unfair
▶️ Main complaints: ‘favoritism’, ‘money talks’, and ‘some use pull to get out of draft’
Based on newly digitized military records, I show 🧵
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▶️ Highest income group's draft rate = *half* that of lowest income group
▶️ Rich more likely to get exemptions
Their exemptions? More questionable...
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▶️ Doctor connections ➡️ 11% higher health exemptions
▶️ The richer had more doctor connections
If lower drafting of the rich was observed, esp. among neighbors, it was perceived as unfair
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Main spec:
▶️ Dependent var: binary indicator for individual volunteering
▶️ Independent var: draft rate gap between individuals' poorer vs richer neighbors
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Instrumental var: lottery number gaps between individuals' poorer vs richer neighbors 🎲 🎲
(Random lottery nums, lower = higher draft chance)
Higher nums for richer neighbors (in B's circle) ➡️ fewer richer drafted ➡️ bigger poorer-richer draft rate gap
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If the draft had been fair (no poorer-richer draft gap), volunteering would've jumped approximate 1/3!!
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