The Growth in Applications for Social Security Disability Insurance: A Spillover Effect from Workers’ Compensation

We investigate the determinants of application for Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) benefits in approxi­mately 45 jurisdictions between 1981 and 1999. We reproduce findings of previous studies of the determinants of DI application then test the additional influence of changes to workers’ compensation program benefits and rules on DI application rates. Our findings indicate that the programs are interrelated: When workers’ compensation benefits declined and eligibility rules tightened in the 1990s, the DI application rate increased

Workers' Compensation Under Alternative Insurance Arrangements

The authors use a unique panel data set of state-level data for 48 jurisdictions between 1975 and 1995 to explore the effects of insurance arrangements on workplace safety, the structure of the workers' compensation insurance market, and the employers' costs of workers' compensation insurance. In addition, we examine the trade-off between the benefit adequacy and affordability objectives of state workers' compensation programs and estimate the impact that the imposition of federal standards for benefit adequacy would have on workers' compensation costs

The Employers' cost of Workers' Compensation Insurance: Magnitudes, Determinants, and Public Policy

This paper presents estimates of the average cost of the workers' compensation insurance program for a homogeneous group of employers by state. These estimates are of interest because they reflect the operation, direct nominal costs, and efficiency of workers' compensation. The paper estimates cost equations for a variety of alternative specifications. The main finding is that when cost equations are estimated by ordinary least squares there is a unit elasticity of costs with respect to benefits, but instrumental variable estimates of the effect of benefits yield a greater than unit elasticity. The results also indicate that the presence of a state insurance fund is associated with higher average costs to employers, all else equal. Finally, we explore the impact that the minimum standards recommended by the National Commission on State Workmen's Compensation Laws would have on workers' compensation costs.

Permanent Disability Benefits in Workers\u27 Compensation

Berkowitz and Burton provide a detailed examination of the adequacy and equity of permanent partial disability benefits, and the efficiency of the system delivering those benefits. A ten-state study is presented that examines states\u27 criteria for awarding scheduled and nonscheduled benefits. Three of those states are then used for a wage-loss study illustrating the relationship among workers\u27 disability ratings, the workers\u27 WC benefits, and losses of earnings caused by work-related injuries.https://research.upjohn.org/up_press/1117/thumbnail.jp

Longitudinal Spin Asymmetry and Cross Section of Inclusive pi0 Production in Polarized p+p Collisions at RHIC

We present the first measurement of the cross section and the double longitudinal spin asymmetry of inclusive pi0 production in polarized p+p collisions at Sqrt(s) = 200 GeV at mid-rapidity with the STAR detector, using the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter. The measured cross section is compared to NLO pQCD calculations and can provide constraints on the pion fragmentation functions. Fragmentation is studied directly by measuring the momentum fraction of pi0 in jets, a quantity that is affected by the fragmentation process and jet reconstruction effects. The double longitudinal spin asymmetry is compared to NLO pQCD calculations based on different assumptions for the gluon polarization in the nucleon to provide constraints on delta g/g. At the present level of statistics the measured asymmetry disfavors a large positive gluon polarization, but can not yet distinguish between other scenarios.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to the proceedings of the 17th International Spin Physics Symposium (SPIN2006), Kyoto, Japan, October 2 to 7, 200

Workers\u27 Compensation: Benefits, Costs, and Safety Under Alternative Insurance Arrangements

Thomason, Schmidle, and Burton make use of a unique data set to delve into how insurance arrangements affect several objectives of the workers\u27 compensation (WC) program. They underscore the effects of deregulation and other changes in WC insurance pricing arrangements by performing empirical analyses that use state-specific cost, benefit, and injury data from 48 states for 1975-1995. This allows them to address the interactive relationships among the four objectives of WC systems adequacy of benefits, affordability of WC insurance, efficiency in the benefits delivery system, and prevention of workplace injuries and diseases and how various public policies adopted by states or the federal government work to achieve them.https://research.upjohn.org/up_press/1058/thumbnail.jp