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Disability Insurance and the Great Recession

Author

Listed:
  • Nicole Maestas
  • Kathleen J. Mullen
  • Alexander Strand

Abstract

This paper reports research on the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program, which is designed to provide income to support workers who become unable to work because of a severe, long-lasting disability. The research used administrative data to estimate the effect of labor market conditions, as measured by the unemployment rate, on the number of SSDI applications, the number and composition of initial allowances and denials, and the timing of applications relative to disability onset. The authors analyzed the period of the Great Recession, and compare this period with business cycle effects over the past two decades, from 1992 through 2012. The analysis isolates the quantity and composition of applicants who are induced to apply for SSDI benefits when labor market opportunities decline, and therefore provides important new evidence about the group for whom SSDI application is a substitute for labor force participation, and their impact on the SSDI program.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicole Maestas & Kathleen J. Mullen & Alexander Strand, 2015. "Disability Insurance and the Great Recession," Working Papers WR-1088, RAND Corporation.
    • Handle: RePEc:ran:wpaper:wr-1088
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. David H. Autor & Mark G. Duggan, 2003. "The Rise in the Disability Rolls and the Decline in Unemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 157-206.
    2. Norma B. Coe & Matthew S. Rutledge, 2013. "How Does the Composition of Disability Insurance Applicants Change Across Business Cycles?," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2013-5, Center for Retirement Research.
    3. Nicole Maestas & Kathleen J. Mullen & Alexander Strand, 2013. "Does Disability Insurance Receipt Discourage Work? Using Examiner Assignment to Estimate Causal Effects of SSDI Receipt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1797-1829, August.
    4. Dan Black & Kermit Daniel & Seth Sanders, 2002. "The Impact of Economic Conditions on Participation in Disability Programs: Evidence from the Coal Boom and Bust," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 27-50, March.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Gopi Shah Goda & Emilie Jackson & Lauren Hersch Nicholas & Sarah See Stith, 2023. "The impact of Covid-19 on older workers’ employment and Social Security spillovers," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 813-846, April.
    2. Hamish Low & Luigi Pistaferri, 2020. "Disability Insurance: Theoretical Trade‐Offs and Empirical Evidence," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 129-164, March.
    3. Andersen, Asbjørn Goul & Markussen, Simen & Røed, Knut, 2019. "Local labor demand and participation in social insurance programs," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Mikhail Golosov & Luigi Iovino, 2021. "Social Insurance, Information Revelation, and Lack of Commitment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(9), pages 2629-2665.
    5. Furtado, Delia & Papps, Kerry L. & Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos, 2022. "Who Goes on Disability when Times are Tough? The Role of Work Norms among Immigrants," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    6. Sergi Jiménez-Martín & Arnau Juanmarti Mestres & Judit Vall Castelló, 2019. "Great Recession and disability insurance in Spain," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 1623-1645, May.
    7. Mullen, Kathleen J. & Staubli, Stefan, 2016. "Disability benefit generosity and labor force withdrawal," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 49-63.
    8. Michael Anderson & Yonatan Ben-Shalom & David Stapleton & Emily Roessel, "undated". "The Impact of the Great Recession on SSDI Awards: A Birth-Cohort Analysis," Mathematica Policy Research Reports b59814bdab3b477db7e5600d7, Mathematica Policy Research.
    9. Leila Bengali & Mary C. Daly & Olivia Lofton & Robert G. Valletta, 2021. "The Economic Status of People with Disabilities and Their Families since the Great Recession," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 695(1), pages 123-142, May.
    10. Maestas, Nicole & Mullen, Kathleen J. & Strand, Alexander, 2021. "The effect of economic conditions on the disability insurance program: Evidence from the great recession," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    11. Kevin Milligan & Tammy Schirle, 2019. "Push and Pull: Disability Insurance, Regional Labor Markets, and Benefit Generosity in Canada and the United States," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(S2), pages 289-323.
    12. Jody Schimmel Hyde & Priyanka Anand & Maggie Colby & Lauren Hula & Paul O'Leary, "undated". "The Impact of Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansions on Applications to Federal Disability Programs," Mathematica Policy Research Reports dffdcdfba16f4084890300ac0, Mathematica Policy Research.
    13. Bíró, Anikó & Elek, Péter, 2020. "Job loss, disability insurance and health expenditure," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    14. Matthew J. Hill & Jose I. Silva & Judit Vall Castello, 2019. "Act now: The effects of the 2008 Spanish disability reform," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(7), pages 906-920, July.
    15. Simonetti, Irene & Belloni, Michele & Farina, Elena & Zantomio, Francesca, 2022. "Labour market institutions and long term adjustments to health shocks: Evidence from Italian administrative records," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    16. Tenenbaum, Victoria & Sánchez, Guillermo, 2020. "La jubilación por incapacidad en el Uruguay," Estudios y Perspectivas – Oficina de la CEPAL en Montevideo 45669, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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