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Measuring the (income) effect of disability insurance generosity on labour market participation

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  • Marie, O.

    (Research Centre for Educ and Labour Mark
    General Economics 2 (Macro))

  • Vall Castello, J.

    (External organisation)

Abstract

We analyze the employment effect of a law that provides for a 36 percent increasein the generosity of disability insurance (DI) for claimants who are, as a result oftheir lack of skills and of the labour market conditions they face, deemed unlikely tofind a job. The selection process for treatment is therefore conditional on having alow probability of employment, making evaluation of its effect intrinsically difficult.We exploit the fact that the benefit increase is only available to individuals aged 55or older, estimating its impact using a regression discontinuity approach. Our firstresults indicate a large drop in employment for disabled individuals who receive theincrease in the benefit. Testing for the linearity of covariates around the eligibility agethreshold reveals that the age at which individuals start claiming DI is not continuous:the benefit increase appears to accelerate the entry rate of individuals aged 55 or over.We obtain new estimates excluding this group of claimants, and find that the policydecreases the employment probability by 8 percent. We conclude that the observedDI generosity elasticity of 0.22 on labour market participation is mostly due to incomeeffects since benefit receipt is not work contingent in the system studied.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Marie, O. & Vall Castello, J., 2011. "Measuring the (income) effect of disability insurance generosity on labour market participation," Research Memorandum 050, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    • Handle: RePEc:unm:umamet:2011050
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Silva, José I. & Vall-Castello, Judit, 2012. "Why Are So Many Disabled Individuals Not Working in Spain? A Job Search Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 6317, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    2. Thomas Barnay, 2016. "Health, work and working conditions: a review of the European economic literature," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(6), pages 693-709, July.
    3. de Groot, Nynke & Koning, Pierre, 2016. "Assessing the effects of disability insurance experience rating. The case of The Netherlands," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 304-317.
    4. Sergi Jiménez-Martín & Arnau Juanmarti Mestres & Judit Vall Castelló, 2016. "Great Recession and disability insurance in Spain," Economics Working Papers 1519, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Apr 2017.
    5. Sergi Jiménez-Martín & Arnau Juanmarti Mestres & Judit Vall-Castello, 2016. "Great Recession and Disability in Spain," Working Papers 896, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.
    6. repec:eee:labeco:v:48:y:2017:i:c:p:23-34 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Ye, Han, 2018. "The Effect of Pension Subsidies on Retirement Timing of Older Women: Evidence from a Regression Kink Design," IZA Discussion Papers 11831, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    8. Thomas Barnay & Emmanuel Duguet & Christine Le Clainche & Yann Videau, 2016. "An evaluation of the 1987 French Disabled Workers Act: Better paying than hiring," Working Papers hal-01292132, HAL.
    9. Begoña Cueto & Miguel A. Malo, 2016. "Do Partial Disability Pensions Close the Earnings Gap?," Hacienda Pública Española, IEF, vol. 216(1), pages 103-126, March.
    10. Eugster, Beatrix & Deuchert, Eva, 2017. "Income and Substitution Effects of a Disability Insurance Reform," Economics Working Paper Series 1709, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    11. Nancy Quinceno Cárdenas, 2014. "Modelación basada en agentes en el sistema pensional colombiano. Una aproximación desde el mercado laboral y la dinámica poblacional," REVISTA CIFE, UNIVERSIDAD SANTO TOMÁS, September.
    12. Monika Bütler & Eva Deuchert & Michael Lechner & Stefan Staubli & Petra Thiemann, 2015. "Financial work incentives for disability benefit recipients: lessons from a randomised field experiment," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-18, December.
    13. Alexander Gelber & Timothy J. Moore & Alexander Strand, 2017. "The Effect of Disability Insurance Payments on Beneficiaries' Earnings," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 229-261, August.
    14. Bratsberg, Bernt & Raaum, Oddbjørn & Røed, Knut, 2018. "Immigrant Responses to Social Insurance Generosity," IZA Discussion Papers 11482, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    15. Deuchert, E. & Eugster, B., 2016. "Crawling Up the Cash Cliff? Behavioral Responses to a Disability Insurance Reform," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 16/21, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    16. Andersson, Josefine, 2018. "Financial incentives to work for disability insurance recipients - Sweden’s special rules for continuous deduction," Working Paper Series 2018:7, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    17. Eva Frutos & Judit Castello, 2015. "Equal health, equal work? The role of disability benefits in employment after controlling for health status," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(3), pages 329-340, April.
    18. Müller, Tobias & Boes, Stefan, 2016. "Disability Insurance Benefits and Labor Supply Choices: Evidence from a Discontinuity in Benefit Awards," MPRA Paper 70957, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. repec:wfo:wstudy:58532 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Kauer, Lukas, 2014. "The Effect of Cutting Disability Insurance Benefits on Labor Supply in Households," Economics Working Paper Series 1401, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    21. Ulrike Famira-Mühlberger & Ulrike Huemer & Christine Mayrhuber, 2015. "The Impact of Social Security Systems on the Employment Rate of the Elderly in Traditional Welfare States," WIFO Working Papers 499, WIFO.
    22. Silva, José I. & Vall-Castello, Judit, 2012. "Evaluating the Impact of a Reduction in the Generosity of Disability Benefits: The 2008 Spanish Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 6482, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    23. Jose I. Silva & Judit Vall-Castello, 2013. "Partial Disability System and Labor Market Adjustment: The Case of Spain," Upjohn Working Papers and Journal Articles 13-201, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    24. Matthew J. Hill & Jose Silva & Judit Vall, 2015. "Act Now: The Effects of the 2008 Spanish Disability Reform," Studies in Economics 1512, School of Economics, University of Kent.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General

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