We analyze the first representative series of individual measurements of the height of Swiss conscripts for the years 1875-1950. We find that average height followed a general upward time trend, but the economic downturn in the 1880s slowed down the increase in rural average-heights while the economic crisis subsequent to World War I had only a minor effect. Moreover, social-class affiliation w...

A question that continues to worry practitioners and researchers is how much recruiters can trust self-reported measures of personality. Several models of faking assume that applicants differ in their motivation to fake, but field evidence regarding these differences is still rare. For the current field study, we exploited a unique setting: The examination for compulsory military service in Swi...

We identify the causal eff ect of compulsory military service on conscripts’ subsequent labor-market outcomes by exploiting the regression-discontinuity design of the military draft in Germany during the 1950s. Unbiased estimates of military service on lifetime earnings, wages, and employment are obtained by comparing men born before July 1, 1937 (the “White Cohort”) who were exempted from comp...

BACKGROUND For complex multifactorial diseases it seems likely that co-exposure to two risk factors will show a greater than additive relationship on disease risk. AIMS To test whether greater than additive relationships occur between risk factors for psychosis. METHOD A cohort study of 50 053 Swedish conscripts. Data on IQ, cannabis use, psychiatric diagnoses, disturbed behaviour and socia...

We identify the causal eff ect of compulsory military service on conscripts’ subsequent labor-market outcomes by exploiting the regression-discontinuity design of the military draft in Germany during the 1950s. Unbiased estimates of military service on lifetime earnings, wages, and employment are obtained by comparing men born before July 1, 1937 (the “White Cohort”) who were exempted from comp...

The importance of war as a factor in the causation of mental illness has been extensively studied in the past. Most investigators have come to the same general conclusions, namely that amongst serving troops there is no marked increase in the incidence of the severer forms of mental illness but a considerable increase in the less severe disorders, such as anxiety states and hysteria. A distinct...

Do the electoral incentives of political leaders influence who is compelled to serve in military? We argue that conscription policy designed by actors care about winning elections. In wartime, politicians face twin threats military and defeat. Therefore, they will shield swing communities, hold considerable sway over outcome elections, from some costs service. leverage a novel database 9.2 mill...