We study Disability Insurance (DI) application behavior in the U.S. using a matched SIPP and administrative data over 1989-1995. Certain state-contingent earnings projections and eligibility probabilities are central to the analysis. We find evidence for a small work disincentive effect of DI...

Using a 1 percent sample of Social Security Administration data, this article documents and analyzes responses in the entitlement age for old-age benefits following the recent changes in Social Security rules. Both rules, the removal of the retirement earnings test (RET) for persons who are at...

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries intentionally restrain, or “park,†their earnings at a level below substantial gainful activity to retain cash benefits. But empirical evidence documenting such behavior is scant. This article in...

We study the evolution of individual labor earnings over the life cycle using a large panel data set of earnings histories drawn from U.S. administrative records. Using fully nonparametric methods, our analysis reaches two broad conclusions. First, earnings shocks display substantial deviations...

We study the evolution of individual labor earnings over the life cycle, using a large panel data set of earnings histories drawn from U.S. administrative records. Using fully nonparametric methods, our analysis reaches two broad conclusions. First, earnings shocks display substantial deviations...

Two changes have been made recently to rules governing the Social Security program: the retirement earnings test was eliminated in 2000 for people aged 65–69, and the full retirement age (FRA) for people born in 1938 or later was scheduled to gradually increase in two-month increments until...

This paper studies how recessions affect individual income risk. We employ a unique and confidential administrative data set with tens of millions of observations on individual earnings histories from the Social Security Administration records. We use a dataset that is a 10% random sample of the...

We study how individuals match their skills with an occupation's demands as they choose a career. With data on individuals' test scores for multiple types of skills and work histories, we have a rich description of this process. We quantify the quality of one's occupational match and how it...

The first part of this paper estimates a set of stochastic processes with increasing generality to capture these salient features of earnings dynamics to provide a reliable "user's guide" for applied economists. In the second part, we examine if these documented features can be explained in a...