Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Applicants for Social Security disability benefits who fail to pass the medical screening form a natural "control" group for beneficiaries. Data drawn from the 1972 and 1978 surveys of the disabled done for the Social Security Administration show that fewer than 50 percent of rejected male applicants work. Typical earnings of those that do are less than 59 percent of median earnings for other men their age. These data cast doubt on recent econometric work that suggests that the disincentive effects of the Social Security Disability Program have been substantial. Copyright 1989 by American Economic Association.