Military Service & Immigrant Integration: Evidence from the Vietnam War Draft

• In Event: The Intergroup Politics of Identity and Conflict

Abstract

Recent trends in global migration have raised questions surrounding immigrants’ national identification and assimilation into the American mainstream. What explains variation in immigrants’ integration choices? Although seminal theories in political science argue that military service is a critical driver of assimilation, some scholars have challenged the empirical basis and theoretical logic underpinning this relationship. A major obstacle bedeviling the study of military service and integration is self-selection: immigrants who are better assimilated may be more likely to join the military in the first place. We address the selection problem by examining the effects of military conscription during the Vietnam War using an instrumental variables approach. Conscription during the crucial years 1970--1972 was decided on the basis of national draft lotteries, which assigned draft numbers based on an individual's date of birth. We use the draft lottery to instrument for military service and estimate the causal effect of service on a range of integration outcomes using granular data from the 2000 decennial census. Our study thus contributes novel evidence to key debates on the implications of military service for assimilation and national identification, while also highlighting a potential role for public policy to encourage immigrant incorporation via national service.

Authors

• Nan Zhang, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods

• Melissa M. Lee, University of Pennsylvania