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Military Technology and Sample Selection Bias

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2020

Johan Fourie Open the ORCID record for Johan Fourie [Opens in a new window] ,
Kris Inwood Open the ORCID record for Kris Inwood [Opens in a new window]  and
Martine Mariotti Open the ORCID record for Martine Mariotti [Opens in a new window]
Johan Fourie*
Affiliation:
LEAP, Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University
Kris Inwood
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Guelph University
Martine Mariotti
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Australian National University Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University
*
*Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Military enlistment is highly selective for reasons of both labor demand and supply. An early-twentieth-century evolution of military technology that shifted the demand for workers of different stature illustrates the importance of labor demand beyond the commonly discussed influences originating with labor supply. English-born soldiers in the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902) were taller, on average, than those of World War I (1914–18), yet these differences cannot be attributed to standard of living or business cycle influences on the labor market. Rather, we argue, the mechanization and bureaucratization of warfare increased the relative value of shorter people permitting a decline in the average height of soldiers. Technological change over the period of these two wars affected labor demand in a way that must be recognized before using this evidence to test hypotheses about changes in population health.

Type
Special Issue Article
Information
Social Science History , Volume 44 , Special Issue 3: Selection Bias and Social Science History , Fall 2020 , pp. 485 - 500
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Social Science History Association

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