title: Long-term health effects of Vietnam-era military service: A quasi-experiment using Australian conscription lotteries.
abstract: This paper estimates the long-term health effects of Vietnam-era military service using Australia's National conscription lotteries for identification. Our primary contribution is the quality and breadth of our health outcomes. We use several administrative sources, containing a near-universe of records on mortality (1994-2011), cancer diagnoses (1982-2008), and emergency hospital presentations (2005-2010). We also analyse a range of self-reported morbidity indicators (2006-2009). We find no significant long-term effects on mortality, cancer or emergency hospital visits. In contrast, we find significant detrimental effects on a number of morbidity measures. Hearing and mental health appear to be particularly affected.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Economics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Economics, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.affiliation: School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia; IZA, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: siminski@uow.edu.au.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Siminski
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D014744:Vietnam
keywords: Australia; Conscription; H56; I10; I13; Lottery; Veterans; War