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Understanding the Aggregate Effects of Disability Insurance

Author

Listed:
  • Soojin Kim

    (Georgia State University)

  • Serena Rhee

    (Chung-Ang University)

Abstract

We study the aggregate consequences of the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program, focusing on the role of complementarity between heterogeneous human capital. First, we develop and estimate a wage process in which individuals' human capital comprises (pure) labor and experience, and their efficiencies are affected by disability. We find that older workers are more experience-abundant, and that disability causes a smaller loss in the efficiency of experience than it does in the efficiency of labor. Further, the estimated aggregate production technology shows that labor and experience are complementary inputs. Combining these empirical results with a structural general equilibrium model, we analyze the labor market implications of removing the DI program. Removal of the DI program induces an increase in the relative supply of experience, thus affecting the marginal productivities of inputs and wages of all workers in the economy. Despite the increased labor market entry of disabled workers, the aggregate productivity may increase in the counterfactual economy, thanks to the complementarity between labor and experience. (Copyright: Elsevier)

Suggested Citation

  • Soojin Kim & Serena Rhee, 2022. "Understanding the Aggregate Effects of Disability Insurance," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 46, pages 328-364, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:issued:18-401
    DOI: 10.1016/j.red.2021.11.001
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    disability insurance; labor supply; wage risk; skill complementarity; human capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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