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  3. American Economic Review: Insights
  4. December 2023
  5. Dishonesty and Public Employment

American Economic Review: Insights

ISSN 2640-205X (Print) | ISSN 2640-2068 (Online)

Dishonesty and Public Employment

  • Guillermo Cruces
  • Martín A. Rossi
  • Ernesto Schargrodsky
American Economic Review: Insights
vol. 5, no. 4, December 2023
(pp. 511–26)
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Abstract

We exploit a natural experiment to study the causal link between dishonest behavior and public employment. When military conscription was mandatory in Argentina, 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, we first present evidence of cheating in medical examinations. We then show that individuals with a higher probability of having cheated in health checks exhibit a higher propensity to occupy nonmeritocratic public sector jobs later in life.

Citation

Cruces, Guillermo, Martín A. Rossi, and Ernesto Schargrodsky. 2023. "Dishonesty and Public Employment." American Economic Review: Insights, 5 (4): 511–26. DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20220550

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
  • J45 Public Sector Labor Markets
  • K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
  • O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration