Send Me: Racial Selection in Deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan

38 Pages Posted: 3 Nov 2016 Last revised: 15 Jul 2017

See all articles by Laura Armey

Laura Armey

Naval Postgraduate School

Peter Berck

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics

Jonathan Lipow

Government of the United States of America - Defense Resources Management Institute

Date Written: March 1, 2017

Abstract

Exploiting a database of administrative records for 300,000 members of the US Armed Forces, we find evidence of severe bias in the selection of personnel deployed to serve in Afghanistan and Iraq. Of most concern, we find that African American were far less likely than other service members to have been deployed to serve in combat zones, and were less likely to face intense combat if deployed.

Keywords: Military Manpower, OEF, OIF, Deployment, Defense, War, Minorities

JEL Classification: J45, J70, H56

Suggested Citation

Armey, Laura and Berck, Peter and Lipow, Jonathan, Send Me: Racial Selection in Deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan (March 1, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2863615 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2863615

Laura Armey (Contact Author)

Naval Postgraduate School ( email )

United States

Peter Berck

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics ( email )

Berkeley, CA 94720
United States

Jonathan Lipow

Government of the United States of America - Defense Resources Management Institute ( email )

United States

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