The USA and other countries spend a significant portion of their defense budgets on personnel. Effective management of military forces requires an understanding of the economics of military manpower. Over the past three decades economists have produced a substantial body of research about the...

Since the publication of Volume 1 of the Handbook of Defense Economics, key events have shaped the defense manpower research agenda and called for research to help policymakers deal with the challenges that these factors presented. One event was the end of the Cold War, which permitted drastic...

After a rocky start to the volunteer military in the late 1970s, since 1980 the United States military services have met or exceeded their recruiting and retention goals in most years and have done so at reasonable cost. The ongoing conflict in Iraq is the U.S. military's first protracted...

The military drawdown program of the early 1990s provides an opportunity to obtain estimates of personal discount rates based on large numbers of people making real choices involving large sums. The program offered over 65,000 separatees the choice between an annuity and a lump-sum payment....

From the onset of World War II until July 1973, the draft was a fact of life for male youth in the United States. Since then, America's armed forces have been staffed by volunteers. Recent recruiting difficulties have precipitated calls from some quarters for a return to conscription. This paper...