Costs and Benefits of Quality Soldiers: A Critical Review of the CBO report, Quality Soldiers: Costs of Manning the Active Army

Abstract

This document reviews the CBO report and its cost-effectiveness and productivity measures, the assumptions about productivity and the effects of bonuses and military pay on Army enlistments, and the conclusions drawn. The critique finds the cost-effectiveness and productivity measures used, as well as elasticities of resources, inappropriate, and provides alternates which lead to different conclusions. Although recruitment of high quality youth is costly, quality manpower is cost-effective from a larger perspective. The critique also pointed out that many hidden and incommensurable costs were not addressed by the CBO, and concludes that the program proposed by the CBO would substantially lower the Army's combat- and cost-effectiveness.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1986
Accession Number
ADA173223

Entities

People

  • Juri Toomepuu

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Combat Effectiveness
  • Cost Analysis
  • Costs
  • Department Of Defense
  • Education
  • Enlisted Personnel
  • Human Behavior
  • Manpower
  • Motivation
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Recruiting
  • Recruits
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Training
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Medicine
  • Political science

Readers

  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Naval Personnel Management
  • Systems Analysis and Design