Saturday Data: Vietnam Draftee's Kids

At the Public Affairs "offices" in Quang Tri, Vietnam

     An odd but interesting study reported by The Washington Post this past week. It finds a negative impact decades later on the earnings of the children of men who were either drafted to serve in Vietnam or who joined because of pressure from the existence of a draft ( I certainly joined because I was 1A and could have been drafted any day. Joining was for three years instead of two, but you did get some choice in your military "job". It seemed a a better deal at the time.) 


Here, read this part of the article first. It presents the surprising result of the research:

Yes, that IS me front and center, smoking as I did back then.

A man who enlisted because of the Vietnam draft probably caused his sons to earn $2,000 less a year in 2013. That’s a difference of 5 percent of average incomes. That’s a big deal. These sons were also about 25 percent more likely to join the military. Daughters were affected too, to a much lesser extent.

                                                                                                       The Washington Post.

     Read the Post article if you have time and see if you can wrap your head around the concept.

[Sunday Data is a regular feature of www.timlennox.com]