David S. Loughran

The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a residential program coupled with post-residential mentoring that seeks to alter the life course of high school dropouts ages 16-18. A cost-benefit analysis employing estimates of the program's effectiveness from a random assignment program evaluation indicates that every dollar invested in the ChalleNGe program yields $2.66 in social benefits, an estimated return on investment of 166 percent.

The fraction of American youth meeting U.S. Army enlistment standards for weight and body fat has declined markedly. In response, the Army developed a waiver program tied to a fitness test known as the Assessment of Recruit Motivation and Strength (ARMS) test. Through difference-in-differences estimates and other analytic techniques, the authors examine the program's effect on Army accession and attrition rates.

Although polls of Hispanic youth show a strong propensity to serve in the military, Hispanics are nonetheless underrepresented among military recruits. The authors discuss the major characteristics that disproportionately disqualify Hispanic youth and explore actions that could be taken to increase Hispanic enlistments.

Police officers, firefighters, and other public safety workers face exceptionally high rates of injury and fatality relative to the general workforce. This document provides an analysis of the risk factors associated with different aspects of public safety occupations, to help policymakers in their efforts to improve the health and safety of these employees.

Between 2002 and 2004, the number of veterans claiming Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX), which provides income assistance to unemployed veterans as they search for work, increased by about 75 percent. This report examines the reasons for this increase and their implications for the UCX program.

Among the many hardships of military activation is the possibility of losing earnings, and though some research points to such a loss, other research suggests that reservists in fact earn substantially more when they are activated. The authors examine earnings reports from the 2004 and 2005 Status of Forces Survey of Reserve Component Members (SOFS-R) and those from administrative data, the Social Security Administration and military pay records.

This technical report explores recent trends in the unemployment of recent veterans as estimated the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the American Community Survey (ACS). While CPS data indicates that veteran youth unemployment increased relative to nonveteran youth unemployment between 2003 and 2005, the changes in unemployment for the same groups over the same period in the ACS data are not statistically significant.

Are older drivers posing increasing risk to the public? If so, what public policies might mitigate that risk? Older drivers (those 65 and older) are slightly likelier than drivers aged 25 to 64 to cause an accident, but drivers aged 15 to 24 are nearly three times likelier than older drivers to do so. The authors of this paper conclude that stricter licensing policies targeting older drivers would likely not improve traffic safety substantially.

Provides input regarding alternativec ompensation proposals for the reserve components and the broader issues surrounding reserve retirement reform. Four bills are pending in Congress to reduce the age at which reservists can begin to receive retirement benefits. This report provides input regarding these proposals and the broader issues surrounding reserve retirement reform. Although it is important to recognize that deferring some portion of compensation can be cost-effective, the results argue in favor of providing compensation on a current rather than a deferred basis.

Reports estimates of the effect of activation on the earnings of reservists and finds that earnings loss attributable to activation is less common than that suggested by survey-based analyses. However, the substantial earnings gains most reservists experience might not be sufficient to compensate reservists for the hardship of activation.

Today, American service personnel are deploying at rates not seen since the Vietnam War. Such deployments and activations have raised concerns about their effect on the local economies. The authors of this report use econometric models to analyze the impact of activations and deployments on economic conditions, as measured by changes in employment at the county level.

Preliminary assessment of new educational benefits programs, such as those offered by some active components, to help reserve components attract high-quality recruits and of whether potential of programs warrants further evaluation. 450-character abstract: Preliminary assessment of new educational benefits programs, such as those offered by some active components, to help reserve components attract high-quality recruits, and of whether potential of programs warrant further evaluation. Recommended are experimenting with recruiting programs that minimize the risk of activation while recruits attend college and involving an evaluation component in such programs.

This study was part of an effort to identify state-level factors that may contribute to efficent energy use nationwide. The authors examined changes in energy intensity in 48 US states and in the states' energy-consuming sectors from 1977 through 1999.

One-liner: How the wages of military retirees stack up against those of their civilian peers More than 20,000 individuals retire each year from the United States military who are eligible to receive a guaranteed annuity amounting to half or more of their basic military pay. Separating from the military at an average age of 43, the overwhelming majority of these retirees enter second careers in the civilian sector. This book addresses three important questions about the civilian labor market experience of military retirees: How do the wages of military retirees upon separation compare with those of comparably experienced and educated civilians? Do military retirees enjoy higher relative wage growth over their second careers than their civilian peers? Is the transition to civilian employment a difficult process for military retirees? The author finds that military retirees earn substantially lower wages than their civilian peers upon entering the civilian labor market and, moreover, the wages of military retirees remain low relative to civilian wages even as retirees gain civilian labor market experience.

No-fault auto insurance opponents frequently argue that no-fault may ultimately lead to higher auto insurance costs by reducing drivers incentives to drive carefully and thereby increasing the accident rate. The intuition behind this criticism of no-fault is simple: No-fault auto insurance lowers the cost of driving negligently by limiting first-party liability for the injuries suffered by third-parties in auto accidents. This report evaluates this criticism of no-fault by examining trends in fatal and non-fatal automobile accidents rates and rates of driver negligence in the United States between 1967 and 1989. Contrary to some earlier research, this report finds no evidence that the adoption of no-fault auto insurance between 1971 and 1976 in 16 states increased fatal accident rates in those states. This report also finds no correlation between the presence of no-fault auto insurance and a state's overall accident rate or rate of driver negligence.