IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/125947.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Health Matters in Social Security Disability Insurance Participation: Panel Study of Income Dynamics

Author

Listed:
  • Zagdbazar, Manlaibaatar
  • Bayarjargal, Munk

Abstract

This paper investigates the independent roles of health deterioration and employment status in determining future enrollment in Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID, 2005–2019), this research introduces the frailty index—an objective health measure that aggregates cumulative deficits across physical, cognitive, and social dimensions—to overcome limitations associated with self-reported health metrics. Employing a fixed-effects panel regression model, the analysis reveals that higher frailty scores significantly increase the likelihood of transitioning to SSDI within two years. Employment status further modulates this effect, with temporarily disabled, laid-off, and individuals keeping house exhibiting heightened vulnerability due to pre-existing health impairments and economic instability. Subgroup analyses indicate substantial variation in effects by education, gender, and race, underscoring the interplay between health status, employment vulnerability, and systemic inequalities. Robustness checks confirm the consistency of these findings. These results highlight the necessity of targeted early-intervention health strategies and policies addressing employment instability to mitigate premature reliance on disability benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Zagdbazar, Manlaibaatar & Bayarjargal, Munk, 2025. "Health Matters in Social Security Disability Insurance Participation: Panel Study of Income Dynamics," MPRA Paper 125947, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:125947
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/125947/1/MPRA_paper_125947.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    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. Nicole Maestas & Kathleen J. Mullen & Alexander Strand, 2015. "Disability Insurance and the Great Recession," Working Papers 1088, RAND Corporation.
    3. Nicole Maestas & Kathleen J. Mullen & Alexander Strand, 2015. "Disability Insurance and the Great Recession," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 177-182, May.
    4. Bound, John, 1991. "The Health and Earnings of Rejected Disability Insurance Applicants: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(5), pages 1427-1434, December.
    5. Naoko Akashi-Ronquest & Paul Carrillo & Bruce Dembling & Steven Stern, 2011. "Measuring the biases in self-reported disability status: evidence from aggregate data," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(11), pages 1053-1060.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Bíró, Anikó & Elek, Péter, 2020. "Job loss, disability insurance and health expenditure," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. Krekó, Judit & Prinz, Dániel & Weber, Andrea, 2024. "Take-up and labor supply responses to disability insurance earnings limits," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. 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.
    8. Andersen, Asbjørn Goul & Markussen, Simen & Røed, Knut, 2019. "Local labor demand and participation in social insurance programs," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    9. 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.
    10. Mullen, Kathleen J. & Staubli, Stefan, 2016. "Disability benefit generosity and labor force withdrawal," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 49-63.
    11. 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).
    12. 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).
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. David H. Autor & Mark G. Duggan, 2006. "The Growth in the Social Security Disability Rolls: A Fiscal Crisis Unfolding," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 71-96, Summer.
    16. Ariel J. Binder & John Bound, 2019. "The Declining Labor Market Prospects of Less-Educated Men," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(2), pages 163-190, Spring.
    17. Andreas Ravndal Kostol & Magne Mogstad, 2014. "How Financial Incentives Induce Disability Insurance Recipients to Return to Work," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(2), pages 624-655, February.
    18. Barry Chiswick & Hope Corman & Dhaval M. Dave & Nancy Reichman, 2025. "Effects of the Minimum Wage on Employment of Young Adults with Cognitive Disabilities," NBER Working Papers 33990, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Seth Giertz & Jeffrey Kubik, 2011. "The Disability Screening Process and the Labor Market Behavior of Accepted and Rejected Applicants: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 237-253, September.
    20. 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).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • I00 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General - - - General
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:125947. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.