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How large is the bias in self-reported disability?

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Author Info
Hugo Benítez-Silva (Stony Brook University, State University of New York, USA)
Moshe Buchinsky (University of California, Los Angeles, USA, National Bureau of Economic Research, USA and CREST-INSEE, France)
Hiu Man Chan (Charles River Associates, Boston, USA)
Sofia Cheidvasser (Goldman Sachs, New York, USA)
John Rust (University of Maryland, USA, and National Bureau of Economic Research, USA)
Abstract

A pervasive concern with the use of self-reported health measures in behavioural models is that individuals tend to exaggerate the severity of health problems in order to rationalize their decisions regarding labour force participation, application for disability benefits, etc. We re-examine this issue using a self-reported indicator of disability status from the Health and Retirement Study. We study a subsample of individuals who applied for disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA), for whom we can also observe the SSA's decision. Using a battery of tests, we are unable to reject the hypothesis that self-reported disability is an unbiased indicator of the SSA's decision. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/jae.797
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File URL: http://qed.econ.queensu.ca:80/jae/2004-v19.6/
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Publisher Info
Article provided by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. in its journal Journal of Applied Econometrics.

Volume (Year): 19 (2004)
Issue (Month): 6 ()
Pages: 649-670
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Handle: RePEc:jae:japmet:v:19:y:2004:i:6:p:649-670

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. John Rust & Christopher Phelan, 1997. "How Social Security and Medicare Affect Retirement Behavior in a World of Incomplete Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(4), pages 781-832, July.
    Other versions:
  2. Donald W. K. Andrews & Moshe Buchinsky, 2000. "A Three-Step Method for Choosing the Number of Bootstrap Repetitions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(1), pages 23-52, January.
  3. Dwyer, Debra Sabatini & Mitchell, Olivia S., 1999. "Health problems as determinants of retirement: Are self-rated measures endogenous?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 173-193, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Bierens, Herman J, 1990. "A Consistent Conditional Moment Test of Functional Form," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(6), pages 1443-58, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Jianting Hu & Kajal Lahiri & Denton R. Vaughan & Bernard Wixon, 2001. "A Structural Model Of Social Security'S Disability Determination Process," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(2), pages 348-361, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Hugo Benitez-Silva & Moshe Buchinsky & Hiu Man Chan & Sofia Cheidvasser & John Rust, 2000. "How Large is the Bias in Self-Reported Disability?," Working Papers 2000-01, Brown University, Department of Economics.
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Filmer, Deon, 2005. "Disability, poverty, and schooling in developing countries : results from 11 household surveys," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3794, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. David M. Blau & Ryan Goodstein, 2007. "What Explains Trends in Labor Force Participation of Older Men in the United States?," IZA Discussion Papers 2991, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Martin Huber & Michael Lechner & Conny Wunsch, 2009. "Does Leaving Welfare Improve Health? Evidence for Germany," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2009 2009-21, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Lara Gitto & Domenico Santoro & Giuseppe Sobbrio, 2006. "Choice of dialysis treatment and type of medical unit (private vs public): application of a recursive bivariate probit," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(11), pages 1251-1256. [Downloadable!]
  5. Doreen Wing Han Au & Thomas F. Crossley & Martin Schellhorn, 2005. "The Effect of Health Changes and Long-term Health on the Work Activity of Older Canadians," Quantitative Studies in Economics and Population Research Reports 397, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Kreider, Brent & Hill, Steven C., 2005. "Partially Identifying Treatment Effects with an Application to Covering the Uninsured," Staff General Research Papers 12296, Iowa State University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Johansson, Per & Skedinger, Per, 2005. "Are Objective, Official Measures of Disability Reliable?," Working Paper Series 643, Research Institute of Industrial Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. José M. Labeaga & Xisco Oliver & Amedeo Spadaro, . "Measuring Changes in Health Capital," Working Papers 2005-15, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-21.

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