Implications of income uncertainty for socially efficient redistribution are examined in a utilitarian framework. Counterintuitively, a policymaker may respond optimally to a negative utility shock in the economy by redistributing income away from those who suffered the shock. Holding expected...

A worker's decision whether to apply for public transfers may depend not only on his expected level of foregone labor earnings but also on his degree of uncertainty about such earnings. This paper provides theory and evidence about the effects of earnings and eligibility uncertainty on...

Measurement error in health and disability status has been widely accepted as a central problem for social science research. Long-standing debates about the prevalence of disability, the role of health in labor market outcomes, and the influence of federal disability policy on declining...

There is very little known about health care utilization among the homeless or about the role of health insurance on utilization patterns. Many health care reform proposals advocate expanding health insurance coverage for various segments of society, including the homeless. Although homeless...

This study investigates the determinants of applications for U.S. disability benefits between 1986 and 1993 using a semiparametric discrete factor procedure separately for men and women. Approximating a dynamic optimization model, the estimation accounts for a variety of potential biases that...

Health diagnosis indicators used as explanatory variables in econometric models often suffer from substantial measurement error. This measurement error can lead to seriously biased inferences about the effects of health conditions on the outcome measure of interest, and the bias generally spills...

Implications of income uncertainty for socially efficient redistribution are examined. Counterintuitively, a policymaker may respond optimally to a negative utility shock in the economy by redistributing income away from those who suffered the shock. In particular, it may be welfare enhancing to...

A worker's decision whether to apply for public transfers may depend not only on his expected level of forgone labor earnings but also on his degree of uncertainty about such earnings. This article provides theory and evidence about the effects of earnings and eligibility uncertainty on...