Why do disability benefit rolls vary between regions? A review of the evidence from the USA and the UK

Abstract

McVicar D. (2006) Why do disability benefit rolls vary between regions? A review of the evidence from the USA and the UK, Regional Studies 40, 519-533. Over the last 30 years, many Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries have seen a dramatic rise in the share of the working-age population receiving earnings replacement sickness and disability benefits. The reasons behind this growth - particularly for the USA, but also to a lesser extent elsewhere - have been extensively researched in the economics literature. What have been less well researched are the large spatial differences in the size of disability benefit rolls that have emerged in some countries over this period. The UK displays a distinct regional pattern where working-age men and women in the 'North' are considerably more likely to be claiming disability benefits than those in the 'South'. The USA has its own version of the north/south divide, with many southern states displaying disproportionately large disability benefit rolls. The paper describes these regional patterns and explores the existing economics literature on disability benefits in search of potential explanations for them. McVicar D. (2006) Pourquoi les listes des demandeurs de prestations d'invalidite varient suivant la region?: une critique des preuves provenant des E-U et du R-U, Regional Studies 40, 519-533. Sur les 30 dernieres annees, beaucoup des pays-membres de l'OCDE ont temoigne d'une montee vertigineuse de la part de la population active qui font une demande de prestations de l'assurance maladie et d'invalidite invalidite. La documentation economique a approfondi les raisons qui expliquent cette montee - notamment pour les E-U mais aussi dans une moindre mesure ailleurs. Ce qui a ete moins bien recherche c'est la variation geographique importante des listes des demandeurs de prestations d'invalidite qui se font le jour dans certains pays sur cette periode. Le R-U montre une distribution regionale nette a partir de laquelle il est plus probable que les populations masculine et feminine en age de travailler du 'nord' font une demande des prestations invalidite que ne le font celles du 'sud'. Les E-U ont leur propre version du clivage nord-sud; a savoir beaucoup des etats du sud ont des listes des demandeurs de prestations d'invalidite disproportionnees. Cet article cherche a presenter ces distributions regionales et a examiner la documentation economique existante sur prestations d'invalidite afin de rechercher des explications eventuelles. Sante, Invalidite, Prestations d'invalidite, Prestations d'incapacite, Marches du travail McVicar D. (2006) Warum sind Invalidenrenten von Region zu Region verschieden? Eine Besprechung von Beweisen aus den USA und dem UK, Regional Studies 40, 519-533. Im Laufe der letzten 30 Jahre haben viele OECD Lander einen dramatischen Anstieg des Anteils der Bevolkerung im erwerbsfahigen Alter gesehen, die statt Verdienst Krankengeld und Invalidenrenten empfangen.Die Grunde fur diesen Anstieg - besonders in den USA, aber au...

Disability, capacity for work and the business cycle: an international perspective

“…Our starting point is the idea that such programmes have been used to cushion recessions and to alleviate transitions into and from economic inactivity in regions of high unemployment, as suggested by a variety of studies including Beale and Nethercott (1988), Beatty and Fothergill (1996), Black, Daniel and Sanders (2002), Webb (1991), andMcVicar (2006). In addition, disability programmes have often been used as an alternative to early retirement through pension programmes, either because of restrictions on early retirement through conventional pension plans, or because disability programmes offer more attractive benefit levels or tax treatment of retirement benefits (Blöndal and Scarpetta, 1999;Gruber and Kubik, 1997;Wise, 1999, 2004;Haveman and Wolfe, 1984;Haveman, de Jong and Wolfe, 1991;Jiménez-Martin et al, 2006, Jiménez-Martin and Vall, 2009, and Riphahn, 1997.…”

Regional differences in disability retirement: explaining between-county differences in Finland

“…Previous research has shown that the risk of disability retirement varies by characteristics such as age and gender (5,6) as well as occupational class and various work-related factors (7,8). However, remarkably little attention has been paid to differences between geographical areas, even if large variation has been described between regional entities such as provinces or counties and between urban and rural municipalities (9,10). For instance, between Finnish counties the proportion of disability pension recipients of the population aged 16-64 years varied from 4.6 to 11.0%, while the average was 7.3%.…”

Panel estimates of the determinants of British regional male incapacity benefits rolls 1998–2006

“…In the US, for example, the southern states generally have a higher proportion of the working age population receiving Disability Insurance (DI) than other states (e.g. see Rupp and Stapleton, 1998;McVicar, 2006). Regional differences in Britain are particularly pronounced, with Wales and the North having considerably higher IB rolls than the South (e.g.…”