Working Paper: NBER ID: w26513
Authors: Hamish Low; Luigi Pistaferri
Abstract: We show the extent of screening errors made in disability insurance awards using matched survey-administrative data. Type I errors 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 and demographics. Gender differences arise because women are assessed with more residual work capacity. We model the SSA decision-making process and estimate that gender differences in screening errors originate from lower utility losses from incorrectly rejecting women. Finally, noise in self-reported work limitation leads to an overstatement of screening errors, but the gender difference remains.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: H55; J16; J71
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Gender differences in health conditions (I12) | Gender differences in disability insurance outcomes (J79) |
| Gender differences in disability insurance outcomes (J79) | Type I error (C52) |
| Gender differences in disability insurance outcomes (J79) | Type II error (C52) |
| SSA's assessment process (I38) | Type I error (C52) |
| Gender differences in residual functional capacity (J21) | Type I error (C52) |
| Self-reported work limitations among rejected women (J79) | Return to work rates (J29) |