Long-term Consequences of Vietnam-Era Conscription: New Estimates Using Social Security Data

Abstract

The long-term consequences of Vietnam- era conscription have been extensively studied but are still changing. Estimates from the 2000 census, reported in Joshua D. Angrist and Stacey H. Chen (2011), suggest the large civilian earnings losses documented by Angrist (1990) for the 1970s and early 1980s had faded by 1999. At the same time, researchers have noted sharp recent growth in the number of Vietnam-era veterans receiving federal disability transfers (e.g., Mark Duggan, Robert Rosenheck, and Perry Singleton, 2006). David H. Autor and Duggan (2008) and Angrist, Chen and Brigham Frandsen (2010) argue that this growth is due to the increasing attractiveness of Veterans Disability Compensation (VDC) for low-skill men.