DRC Annual Research Meeting

The National Bureau of Economic Research hosted disability policy and program experts for a two-day conference highlighting findings from new research sponsored by SSA through the DRC. The conference took place at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

DAY 1: Thursday, October 30, 2014

Welcoming Remarks: Carolyn Colvin, Acting Commissioner, Social Security Administration Introduced by Sean Brune, Acting Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Retirement and Disability Policy Session Moderator: David Wise, NBER Disability Research Center

Panel 1: Wellbeing and Disability

Disabled Women and Their Economic Wellbeing
Bruce D. Meyer, University of Chicago, and Wallace K.C. Mok, Chinese University of Hong Kong
summary    slides
Discussant: Jeffrey B. Liebman, Harvard University

Long Term Effects of Evidence-Based Practice in Supported Employment on SSI/DI Participation Among Beneficiaries with Psychiatric Disabilities
Judith A. Cook and Jane K. Burke-Miller, University of Illinois at Chicago, and Emily Roessel, Social Security Administration
summary     slides
Discussant: Robert Weathers, Social Security Administration
slides

How Disability Beneficiaries Fared Before and After the Great Recession
Gina Livermore and Maura Bardos, Mathematica Policy Research
summary     slides
Discussant: Kalman Rupp, Social Security Administration
slides

Panel 2: Consumption, Income, and Disability Screening

Characteristics of Disability Beneficiaries with High Earnings
Gina Livermore and Maura Bardos, Mathematica Policy Research
summary     slides
Discussant: Bruce D. Meyer, University of Chicago
slides

The Consumption Patterns of Disability Beneficiaries
Timothy Moore, George Washington University, and Nicolas Ziebarth, Cornell
summary     slides
Discussant: John Sabelhaus, Federal Reserve Board
slides

Are Younger Disability Beneficiaries Unhealthier than Ever?
Matthew S. Rutledge and Qi Guan, Boston College; Brad Trenkamp, Social Security Administration; and April Yanyuan Wu, Mathematica Policy Research
summary     slides
Discussant: Norma Coe, University of Washington
slides

Luncheon Speaker: Gina Clemons, Acting Associate Commissioner, SSA Office of Disability Policy

Session Moderator: David Stapleton, Mathematica Center for Studying Disability Policy

Panel 3: Interactions Between Health, Rehabilitation, and Disability Programs

Trends in Obesity Among Social Security Disability Insurance Applicants, 2005-2013
Jody Schimmel Hyde and Joseph Mastrianni, Mathematica Policy Research; Yong Choi, Capital Disability Research Center; and Jae Song, Social Security Administration
summary     slides
Discussant: Maximilian D. Schmeiser, Federal Reserve Board
slides

Down, or Down and Out: Health Shocks, Socioeconomic Status, and Adverse Events in Mid-Life
David Cutler, Harvard University, and Ellen R. Meara and Wilson F. Powell, Dartmouth
summary     slides
Discussant: Yonatan Ben-Shalom

Youth with Disabilities at the Crossroads: The Intersection of Vocational Rehabilitation and Disability Benefits for Youth with Disabilities
Todd Honeycutt, Allison Thompkins, Maura Bardos, Mathematica Policy Research, and Steven Stern, University of Virginia
summary     slides
Discussant: Jeffrey Hemmeter, Social Security Administration

Panel 4: Disability Insurance and Work

How Extended Unemployment Benefits for Older Workers Affect Labor Market Exit, Disability Enrollment, and Social Security Claims
Lukas Inderbitzin, University of St. Gallen; Stefan Staubli, University of Calgary; and Josef Zweimüller, University of Zurich
summary     slides
Discussant: David Stapleton

To Apply or Not to Apply: The Employment and Program Participation of Social Security Disability Insurance Applicants and Non-applicants
Allison Thompkins, Todd Honeycutt, Claire Gill, and Joseph Mastrianni, Mathematica Policy Research, and Michelle Bailey, Social Security Administration
summary     slides
Discussant: Perry Singleton, Syracuse University
slides

The Effect of Disability Insurance Payments on Beneficiaries' Earnings
Alexander Gelber, University of Pennsylvania; Timothy Moore, George Washington University; and Alexander Strand, Social Security Administration
summary     slides
Discussant: David Mann, Mathematica Policy Research

DAY 2: Friday, October 31, 2014

Session Moderator: David Wise, NBER Disability Research Center

Panel 5: Disability, Employment, and Poverty

How Much Work Would a 50% Disability Insurance Benefit Offset Encourage? An Analysis Using SSI and SSDI Incentives
Philip Armour, RAND
summary     slides
Discussant: Joshua Mitchell, US Census Bureau
slides

Economic Consequences of More Stringent Disability Screening
David Autor, MIT; Andreas Ravndal Kostøl, Statistics Norway; and Magne Mogstad, University of Chicago
summary    
Discussant: Alexander Strand, Social Security Administration
slides

Why Are Some SSDI-only Beneficiaries Poor? Insights from the National Beneficiary Survey
Gina Livermore and Maura Bardos, Mathematica Policy Research
summary     slides
Discussant: Paul O'Leary, Social Security Administration

Panel 6: Reform

Would a Refundable Tax Credit Increase the Labor Supply of Impaired Adults?
Matthew S. Rutledge, Boston College
summary     slides
Discussant: Austin Nichols, DeBruce Foundation
slides

Firm-Level Early Intervention Incentives: Which Recent Employers of Disability Program Entrants Would Pay More?
David C. Stapleton and David R. Mann, Mathematica Policy Research, and Jae Song, Social Security Administration
summary     slides
Discussant: David Autor, MIT
slides

Social Insurance, Firms, and Workers' Sickness Absences--Evidence from Austrian Social Security Data using a Regression Discontinuity Design
René Böheim, Johannes Kepler University, and Thomas Leoni, Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WiFO)
summary     slides
Discussant: Stefan Staubli, University of Calgary
slides

Closing Remarks (David Wise)

The NBER Disability Research Center and Mathematica Center for Studying Disability Policy (CSDP) gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Social Security Administration (SSA) for this meeting. The findings and conclusions are solely those of the authors and do not represent the views of SSA, any agency of the federal government, the NBER Retirement Research Center or Mathematica Center for Studying Disability Policy (CSDP).