Data and Code for: Dishonesty and public employment

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Guillermo Cruces, University of Nottingham and CEDLAS-FCE-UNLP; Martin Rossi, Universidad de San Andres; Ernesto Schargrodsky , Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and CAF

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
data_directory			04/09/2023 10:35:PM
prog_directory			04/09/2023 11:14:PM
README.pdf	application/pdf	208.9 KB	04/12/2023 07:40:AM

Project Citation:

Cruces, Guillermo, Rossi, Martin, and Schargrodsky , Ernesto. Data and Code for: Dishonesty and public employment. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2023. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-11-27. https://doi.org/10.3886/E185801V1

Project Description

Summary: We study the causal link between dishonest behavior in youth and the probability of working in the public sector later in life. Our empirical strategy exploits a natural experiment (the Argentine draft lottery) that provides exogenous variation in the incentives to engage in dishonest behavior during the impressionable years, in a real-world context with high-stake consequences. When military conscription was mandatory, eligibility was determined by both a lottery and a medical examination. To avoid conscription, individuals at risk of being drafted had strong incentives to cheat in their medical examination. These incentives varied with the lottery number. Exploiting this exogenous variation in the incentives for draft evasion, we first present evidence of cheating in medical exemptions. We then show that individuals with a higher probability of having cheated in their health checks as young adults exhibit a higher propensity to occupy non-meritocratic public sector jobs later in life. This evidence suggests not only that cheating can be induced, but that it can also affect future behavior.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: Public employment

JEL Classification:
J45 Public Sector Labor Markets
K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

Geographic Coverage: Argentina

Time Period(s): 1958 – 1962

Collection Date(s): 2020 – 2020

Universe: Argentine men born in 1958-1962

Data Type(s): administrative records data

Methodology

Response Rate: Population data

Sampling: Population data

Data Source: Administrative records

Collection Mode(s): other

Scales: No scales

Weights: Population data

Unit(s) of Observation: Individual

Geographic Unit: Province

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Published Versions

V1 [2023-11-27]

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