This research tackles one of the most important issues that developed, and many developing economies, face and will be facing in the next decades, and which is how to manage and reform disability programs such that they can provide the necessary insurance to those who are not able to fully participate in the labor force, but without reducing the incentives to maintain the maximum attachment to the labor force of those who choose to. All of this while trying to manage the large costs of these kinds of programs in societies that demand a new focus on the abilities of individuals, not their disabilities. The discussion will focus on the case of the United States, but most of the conclusions and lessons we are going to extract could be applicable to any country that offers disability benefits and hopes to give disabled individuals the largest possible role among the labor force participants in the society.
ASEPELT and Fundación ONCE;
NIH grant Number 5 P01 AG022481-04;
Michigan Retirement Research Center;
Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology through project number SEJ2005-08783-C04-01
Peer reviewed