Reading about this subject was really interesting especially because of everything that is happening in the world right now. The main question that popped up was whether or not women should be in the draft. This eventually led into a conversation about the draft in general because it essentially removes people from their previously more profitable work positions. This impact would be even greater if the draft included women because they are more heavily involved in the workforce now more than ever. If men and women were required to enter combat, this would drastically decrease America’s workforce, and overall productivity for the country. This idea was what economists used to convince Nixon to end the draft in 1973, saying that the “market for soldiers should work like any other labor market.” As of right now, the registration system is still in effect, in order to serve as a backup plan. Women are not required to register because of a decree made by The Supreme Court in 1981 to abide by the military's decision on letting women into combat positions. However, times have changed and the military now allows women to be in combat, so if there was need for change it is possible that women will be required to register for the draft. I was interested in the effects of having women required to register for the draft, and in doing more research I found that as of 2013 they removed the military’s ban on women serving in combat. In World War II nearly 350,000 American women served in uniform, but they only took up non-combat roles in order to free up more men to fight. Even in 1994, the government changed some rules in order to allow women to serve in all positions in the military except for direct combat roles. I was unaware of the fact that women were not allowed in combat until recently, and I find the effects that a draft has on the economy to be really interesting.
I disagree with the economists. Of course, the workforce is going to take a hit, but the economists aren't looking at the bigger picture. Imagine what the economy would look like if we didn't defend our country in a war. There would end up being no economy to even care about. Obviously you don't want the economy to go into the toilet, but you have to see the bigger picture in that it is more important to protect our country than to worry about the economy.
ReplyDeleteI find this interesting in many different aspects especially how this would work politically. I think this would depend a lot on the details and what kind of war we are in. People would be needed to keep the country afloat if men were drafted, so I'm not real sure how that would work.
ReplyDeleteI believe women only make up 16% of the military force, but obviously this is still an all time high. As someone who is constantly bombarded with news articles pointing at potential war, I often wonder about the effects of the draft in a political sense but never before a totally economic sense. Productivity being low is better than it being none at all and with people going to defend the country then hopefully there is a country to return to.
ReplyDeleteReading this article made me curious as to why we do not have a system that weights one's probability of being drafted based on how much they contribute to the economy. The article highlights that getting drafted can harm the economy because it takes workers away from higher paying jobs they are more productive at. Perhaps it would be a better idea to make it so that high earning workers or extremely productive workers are less likely to be drafted as to reduce negative impacts on the economy. However, this alternative also brings some problems due to privilege, nepotism, and discrimination potentially determining if workers are higher paid/ more productive.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the article in that they say the economy would take a hit and, "would drastically decrease America’s workforce, and overall productivity for the country" if both women and men were drafted. Regardless of what sex is drafted, there is a set number of people they would be looking to enlist. Whether more men or more women take those respective roles would be negligable since both women and men hold positions of power, white collar jobs, blue collar jobs, and other workforce positions to a more equivalent extent (historically speaking).
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