Push and Pull: Disability Insurance, Regional Labor Markets, and Benefit Generosity in Canada and the United States

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Milligan, Kevin; Schirle, Tammy
• 署名单位: University of British Columbia; National Bureau of Economic Research; Wilfrid Laurier University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/703255
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: S289-S323
• 关键词: growth; work; capacity; HEALTH; rolls

摘要

Disability insurance take-up has expanded substantially in the past 20 years in the United States while shrinking in Canada. We empirically assess these trends by measuring the strength of the push from weak labor markets versus the pull of more generous benefits. Using an instrumental variables strategy comparing benefit changes across country, age, and year, we find that both benefits and regional wages matter. Simulations suggest that the upswing in disability insurance take-up in the United States would be reversed, dropping the caseload by 41% if benefits and wages had followed the growth path observed in Canada.