Draft deferments and higher education: New evidence from a totalitarian state

Abstract Previous studies report mixed results regarding the relationship between military conscription and educational incentives. We provide new evidence from a distinct institutional environment—the Soviet Union, a totalitarian and centrally planned superpower. We examine the impact of abolishing student deferments on higher education (HE) enrollments. Competing hypotheses about the value of Soviet HE imply an uncertain relationship. For a sample of individuals from Latvia, then part of the Soviet Union, we find that this change significantly reduced the odds of male but not female enrollments. There is no evidence that this relationship varied by nationality. Additionally, we find that males who enrolled in HE just before the deferments were abolished were less likely to complete their education. Our results confirm that Soviet HE was used, in part, to avoid military service.