September 28, 2007
Debating Mandatory National Service
Should national service, either military or civilian, be mandatory for 18-year-old Americans? That is the question being debated by the University of Chicago economics professor Gary Becker and his co-blogger, Richard Posner, who lectures at the University of Chicago Law School.
Posner kicks things off with a cost-benefit analysis of the case for universal national service. As he sees it, such a program would generate significant costs: the "deadweight costs" of the necessary taxes to finance such an ambitious program, and the inefficiency costs that stem from reallocating "a year of a college graduate's working life from after college to before college, when he would be less productive." In addition, "Universal national service would also have peculiar effects on the distribution of income. The unpaid national service workers would replace low-paid service workers, pushing many of them into poverty."
These costs are somewhat mitigated by the potential for nurturing social solidarity across class lines. But Posner seems skeptical. Even if the actual motive for mandatory service is to "take rich kids down a peg by forcing them to work for a year with minimal compensation," he finds scant evidence that a year spent working without pay would make one more sympathetic toward issues of distributive justice.
Becker is more emphatic: "compulsory service is a bad policy" with all the characteristics of a "very bad tax."
Ilya Somin takes a different tack in a post at the Volokh Conspiracy. Granting that Becker-Posner do a good job attacking such a policy on economic grounds, Somin, a professor of law at George Mason University, objects on moral grounds: It is forced labor. "Even in the unlikely event that mandatory national service could be shown to provide benefits that outweigh its costs, it would still be morally repulsive," Somin writes. "Short of outright slavery or the murder of innocent people, it is hard to think of anything that violates individual liberty more clearly than forced labor."
Evan Goldstein | Posted on Friday September 28, 2007 | PermalinkComments
Previous: What Are Your Favorite Academic Blogs?
Next: Abu Aardvark Knocks Biden's Iraq Resolution
Interesting discussion they have going on over there.
I have often thought we should have one year of mandatory service in the military. The year could be completed any time between the ages of 18 and…oh I don’t know. I have said 24, but maybe 28 or 30 is better. That way you aren’t tapping the 18 year old crowd, there’s a steady stream of military, and we all get to do something for our country. I don’t see it as forced labor. I see it as national teamwork and civic duty. But then again, I never would have made it through the military, so what do I know? Maybe the military needs bloggers?
— kgotthardt Sep 28, 03:47 PM #
By the time you would have them trained, it would be time for their year to be up. Who ever heard of a 3 month term in Iraq?
— Frances Hager Sep 28, 04:50 PM #
On the age for compulsory service (if any): The military needs recruits who are malleable and compliant at the level of recent high school graduates who have limited experience in self-direction. They can be trained to obey orders that would be questioned and even challenged by 24-year olds who have become accustomed to making their own decisions.
On the current pattern of an all-volunteer military: I am deeply disturbed by the way the affluent are able to send others to war with only marginal compensation if they don’t come back.
I am convinced that the our country stands to gain if a significant number of leaders in government, business, and education have had a several-year exposure to the realities of the military.
(my perspective from 4 years in the US Navy prior to an academic career)
— Jens Zorn Sep 29, 01:17 AM #
I’m not sure that compulsory national service is a good idea, but I like the idea of strong incentives for voluntary service, e.g. in the Peace Corps, the City Year, Vista, Teach for America, and other kinds of service such as they do in Britain on their “gap year”. I always enjoyed having students return to college after years in the work force—they knew better what they wanted out of life than the raw 18year old freshmen did, most of whom were still in “high school” mode and rather clueless.
I myself did 2 years of international voluntary service after college (with the American Friends service Committe in France) and benefited tremendously from it.
— Harold Schiffman Sep 29, 10:14 AM #
There’s no need for extrinsic incentives for voluntary service — the incentives should be intrinsic. Military service adds extrinsic incentives because you may end up dead.
I am in favor of politicians and their children serving in war: If they go, others may decide to follow…
— David Zetland Sep 29, 04:55 PM #
I agree with mandatory military service even a year of service would definitely benefit yourself and your country.
— Nancy Diaz Oct 2, 03:15 PM #
Mandatory national service would be un-American!
Would you be willing to spread the word about www.draftresistance.org? It’s a site dedicated to shattering the myths surrounding the selective slavery system and building mass civil disobedience to stop the draft before it starts!
Our banner on a website, printing and posting the anti-draft flyer or just telling friends would help.
Thanks!
Scott Kohlhaas
PS. When it comes to conscription, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
— Scott Kohlhaas Oct 8, 08:06 PM #