Probability Segmenting and the Social Cost of Draft Evasion

Abstract

Economists generally believe that forcing young people to serve in the military is by definition a bad idea. Illustrating this, Lee and McKenzie (1992) reviewed twelve textbooks in basic economics and found that all twelve agreed that an all-volunteer military force (AVF) was inherently more efficient than conscription. In juxtaposition to this seeming consensus amongst economists, however, many countries retain conscription.