Disability Insurance: Error Rates and Gender Differences

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Low, Hamish; Pistaferri, Luigi
• 署名单位: Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Chicago; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; Stanford University; Stanford University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/736207
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: earnings; HEALTH; pain; sex

摘要

We show the extent of screening errors made in disability insurance awards using matched survey-administrative data. False rejections are widespread, with large gender differences. Work-disabled women are 12.8 percentage points more likely to be rejected than work-disabled men, controlling for health conditions, occupation, and demographics. Gender differences arise because women are assessed with more residual work capacity. We model the Social Security Administration (SSA) decision-making process and estimate that gender differences in screening errors originate from lower costs to the SSA from incorrectly rejecting women. Noise in self-reported work limitation leads to overstating screening errors, but the gender difference remains.