TY  - JOUR
AU  - Angrist,Joshua D.
AU  - Chen,Stacey H.
AU  - Frandsen,Brigham R.
TI  - Did Vietnam Veterans Get Sicker in the 1990s? The Complicated Effects of Military Service on Self-Reported Health
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14781
PY  - 2009
Y2  - March 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14781
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14781.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Joshua Angrist
Department of Economics
MIT, E52-353
50 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA  02142-1347
Tel: 617/253-8909
Fax: 617/253-1330
E-Mail: angrist@mit.edu

Stacey Chen
Department of Economics, Horton Hall
Royal Holloway 
University of London
Egham Hill, Surrey
Tw20 0EX
United Kingdon
Tel: 02032864238
E-Mail: chens@nber.org

Brigham Frandsen
Harvard University
RWJ Scholar in Health Policy Research
1730 Cambridge Street, S410
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617-233-6683
Fax: 617-496-1636
E-Mail: frandsen@fas.harvard.edu
AB  - The veterans disability compensation (VDC) program, which provides a monthly stipend to disabled veterans, is the third largest American disability insurance program. Since the late 1990s, VDC growth has been driven primarily by an increase in claims from Vietnam veterans, raising concerns about costs as well as health. We use the draft lottery to study the long-term effects of Vietnam-era military service on health and work in the 2000 Census. These estimates show no significant overall effects on employment or work-related disability status, with a small effect on non-work-related disability for whites. On the other hand, estimates for white men with low earnings potential show a large negative impact on employment and a marked increase in non-work-related disability rates. The differential impact of Vietnam-era service on low-skill men cannot be explained by more combat or war-theatre exposure for the least educated, leaving the relative attractiveness of VDC for less skilled men and the work disincentives embedded in the VDC system as a likely explanation.
ER  -