The wait time for a Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) award varies from a few months to several years. Little is known about how applicants fund their consumption during this period. Using the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) linked to the Social Security...

Disability Insurance waiting time varies from a few months to several years. We estimate the causal effect of longer waiting times on the use of five financial coping strategies. We find that SNAP benefits are the most responsive to longer waiting times. Moreover, while spousal employment is not...

While life insurance purchase decisions have long been studied, we still do not know how people decide if they need insurance or how much they need. Using in-depth interviews, we peer into the black box of employee decision-making to learn what people know about this employee-benefit, and how...

With the leading edge of the baby boom generation reaching retirement age, decision makers need a comprehensive understanding of their social, economic, and health characteristics – both in terms of resources and needs – in order to adopt effective public policies and private services to...

With the leading edge of the Baby Boom generation reaching traditional retirement ages, decision makers need a comprehensive understanding of the boomers' social, economic, and health characteristics – both in terms of resources and needs – in order to adopt effective public policies and...

With the leading edge of the baby boom generation reaching retirement age, decision makers need a comprehensive understanding of their social, economic, and health characteristics – both in terms of resources and needs – in order to adopt effective public policies and private services to...

There is relatively little known about the geographic mobility of the elderly in general. Despite the stereotype of retiring in Florida, recent work has documented very little home equity changes among the elderly (Venti and Wise 2002, 2004; Anderson, French, and Lam 2004; Fisher et al. 2007), and that...

Low take-up by elderly Americans in most means-tested federal programs is a persistent and puzzling phenomenon. This paper seeks to measure the causal effect of the benefit levels on elderly enrollment in two public assistance programs – the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and...