The doughboy premium: an empirical assessment of the relative wages of American veterans of World War I

Abstract

This article examines 1940 US census data to assess the relative wages of World War I (WWI) veteran and nonveteran men. Our empirical analysis indicates a 3.6% wage premium for veterans, after controlling earnings-related characteristics. Although lower than comparable estimates for WWII veterans, our results suggest that American veterans of the Great War earned a higher wage premium than those of the Vietnam or Korean conflicts.

Keywords:

• Wages
• veteran status
• World War I

JEL Classification:

• J10
• J24
• J31

Notes

¹ According the Selective Service Act of 1918, men between the ages of 18 and 45 were eligible for the US armed forces, although younger and older individuals also served. Extending the range to 1648 in 1918, which should account for the vast majority of men in the AEF, results in ages 38 to 70 in 1940.

² Although the US economy had not fully recovered from the Great Depression, by 1940 output (GDP), employment, and per-capita income had regained much of their losses from the 1930s.

³ The percentage effect on weekly earnings is based on the procedure specified in Halvorsen and Palmquist (1980).