Mok, Wallace K. C., Bruce D. Meyer, Kerwin Kofi Charles, and Alexandra C. Achen. 2008. “A Note on ‘The Longitudinal Structure of Earnings Losses among Work-Limited Disabled Workers.’” Journal of Human Resources 43(3): 721–728.
Charles (2003) examines the dynamic effects of disability, finding a small decline in earnings and hours following disability onset, even for those who have positive disability reports for each of the next ten years. These outcomes also rebound quickly after the onset of disability. In recent work, Meyer and Mok (2006), find a much larger loss in earnings and a greater decline in hours. Here we find large and persistent declines in earnings and hours, generally several times those reported in Charles (2003). The current findings were arrived at by two research teams working independently without sharing any computer code.
Wallace K. C. Mok is a graduate student in Economics at Northwestern University. Bruce D. Meyer is McCormick Tribune Professor, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago. Kerwin Kofi Charles is the Steans Family Professor in the Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago, and a Coeditor of the Journal of Human Resources. Alexandra C. Achen is a graduate student in public policy and sociology at the University of Michigan. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning January 2009 through December 2012 from Bruce D. Meyer, 1155 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 bdmeyer@uchicago.edu.