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Center for
Retirement Research
at Boston College
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140 Commonwealth
Chestnut Hill
MA 02467-3808

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Briefs

Briefs offer concise and insightful analyses of topical issues.

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Why Do State Disability Application Rates Vary Over Time?

by Norma B. Coe, Kelly Haverstick, Alicia H. Munnell, and Anthony Webb

January 2012

IB#12-2

Introduction

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) applications and benefit receipts vary greatly by state, which has led to concerns about potential inconsistencies in the way that states apply disability standards. An earlier brief concluded that more than 70 percent of the variation across states in SSDI application rates is explained by state health, demographic, and employment characteristics; state policies and politics explain very little. Another concern has been the growth in the SSDI program over time. This brief uses the same data as the earlier analysis to answer a related question: How much of the trends in SSDI application rates within states can be explained by the different factors?...

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For related working paper

Norma B. Coe is associate director for research at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (CRR). Kelly Haverstick is a former CRR research economist. Alicia H. Munnell is director of the CRR and the Peter F. Drucker Professor in Management Sciences at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. Anthony Webb is a research economist at the CRR.

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