Nafta's Army

Free Trade and US Military Enlistment

Bibliographic Data

ID7301972
AuthorsAdam Dean (0000-0002-0940-9588, George Washington University, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume62
Issue4
Pages845-856
Publication date2018-10-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-8833 • E-ISSN: 1468-2478
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/isq/sqy032
OpenAlexW2907021539
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited57

I argue that international trade increases military enlistment in the United States. Trade-related job losses reduce economic opportunities in local labor markets, and the government responds by increasing military recruitment efforts in those counties. This dynamic challenges conventional accounts of globalization, which tend to overlook the local impact of free trade and only examine the traditional welfare policies that governments offer to compensate "trade losers." This study analyzes an original, county-level data set on army enlistment and trade-related job losses from 1996 to 2010. The results suggest that a trade shock of one thousand job losses is associated with a 33 percent increase in army enlistment in the median county. To illustrate the causal mechanisms that link free trade to army enlistment, this study also presents a case study based on original interviews in Catawba County, North Carolina, a county particularly impacted by trade liberalization

Business · Economics · Free trade · Free trade agreement · Globalization · Government (linguistics · International trade · Shock (circulatory · Welfare · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · Employment and Welfare Studies · Global trade and economics

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