Research

Dissertation Chapters

Child Disability, Family Labor Supply, and the Value of the SSI Program (Job Market Paper)

Abstract: The U.S. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program transfers considerable resources to low-income families with disabled children. This paper measures the extent to which the SSI program provides adequate insurance against the additional costs associated with raising a child with a disability, as well as the economic magnitude of the distortions generated by the program’s means tests. Estimates from a life cycle model of female labor supply, savings and SSI application imply that the insurance value of the SSI program is sizable, with prospective parents willing to pay premiums equal to 2.6 times their expected claims. Moral hazard due to income- and wealth-contingent eligibility implies that it costs 1.4 to transfer one dollar of benefits to eligible recipients. A policy counterfactual that would raise the program’s asset limit to a recently-proposed level would be valued more than its fiscal cost, while policies which decrease screening stringency or increase benefit levels are more effective at increasing welfare.

In Sickness and In Health: Intrahousehold Behaviors and Disability Insurance

Medical Schools, Physician Maldistribution, and Mortality

with Thomas Helgerman