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Research by Brian Lucking `11 on Disability Claims Discussed in The Economist
September 30, 2013 | Leave a Comment
Former Brandeis economics major, Brian Lucking, currently a Ph.d. student at Stanford, has had his most recent paper discussed in The Economist.
Since the start of the Great Recession in 2007, the labor force participation rate, the share of working age adults who are either employed or looking for work, has fallen steadily from 67% to 63% despite recent declines in the unemployment rate. This is very high, even by international standards. Brian and his co-authors suggest that rising disability claims may help explain why so many adults are leaving the workforce. Specifically, between 31% and 59% of the decline in participation among 16-to-64-year-olds can be explained by increased disability claims, and without the claims, unemployment itself would be a lot higher. Brian’s work is discussed in the September 28th issue of The Economist in the article Free Exchange: The Missing Millions.