Because it is differentiated from other employers, the U.S. military
enjoys some monopsony power. After reviewing existing estimates of the
elasticity of labor supplied to the military, we obtain new estimates for the Army
and Navy covering the period from 1998-2007. We employ a control function
approach to account for the potential endogeneity of enlistment incentives. Our
elasticity estimates of 2.4 for the Army and .4 for the Navy suggest that the
services have substantial wage-setting ability. However, the Army faces higher
supply elasticity since the invasion of Iraq and higher elasticity in states with
weak support for obligatory military service.