Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
This paper estimates the impact of military recruitment during World War I on human capital accumulation in colonial Punjab. The empirical strategy exploits the exogenous increase in recruitment by the Indian Army during the war. Higher military recruitment is found to be associated with increased literacy at the district-religion level. The observed improvement in the human capital stock appears to be driven by the informal acquisition of literacy skills by serving soldiers.