Sir! I’d rather go to school, sir!

Abstract EN

Conscription is a popular method of army recruitment for governments of develop-ing countries that are particularly prone to conflict.

This study examines the largely underresearched issues of military service by looking at an unintended consequence of a military service exemption policy and answering a principal question: is there a fear of conscription among the youth? It uses a discontinuity in the military service law in an under-studied country, Iran, and offers causal evidence that fear of conscription entices young men to go to college by 13 percentage points (20%) more.

This exogenous increase in college attendance has no impact on labor market outcomes.

This further strengthens the argument that it was the fear of conscription motivating demand for attending college.