Unemployment Insurance and Disability Insurance in the Great Recession

58 Pages Posted: 23 Nov 2013 Last revised: 3 Apr 2022

See all articles by Andreas I. Mueller

Andreas I. Mueller

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Jesse Rothstein

University of California, Berkeley, The Richard & Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy; University of California, Berkeley, College of Letters & Science, Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Till von Wachter

Columbia University - Columbia Business School, Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: November 2013

Abstract

Disability insurance (DI) applications and awards are countercyclical. One potential explanation is that unemployed individuals who exhaust their Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits use DI as a form of extended benefits. We exploit the haphazard pattern of UI benefit extensions in the Great Recession to identify the effect of UI exhaustion on DI application, using both aggregate data at the state-month and state-week levels and microdata on unemployed individuals in the Current Population Survey. We find no indication that expiration of UI benefits causes DI applications. Our estimates are sufficiently precise to rule out effects of meaningful magnitude.

Suggested Citation

Mueller, Andreas I. and Rothstein, Jesse and von Wachter, Till, Unemployment Insurance and Disability Insurance in the Great Recession (November 2013). NBER Working Paper No. w19672, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2358764

Andreas I. Mueller (Contact Author)

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Economics ( email )

Austin, TX 78712
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Cambridge, MA 02138
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IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
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Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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Jesse Rothstein

University of California, Berkeley, The Richard & Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy ( email )

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Berkeley, CA 94720-7320
United States

HOME PAGE: http://eml.berkeley.edu/~jrothst

University of California, Berkeley, College of Letters & Science, Department of Economics ( email )

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Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Till Von Wachter

Columbia University - Columbia Business School, Economics ( email )

420 West 118th Street
New York, NY 10027
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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