Survey of Disability Determinations Around the World

working paperDisability protection programs constitute a critical safety net for individuals unable to work due to disabling health conditions. Yet countries differ along a number of dimensions in terms of how their social safety nets assist people with disabilities. Learning from other countries’ approaches can be useful for countries seeking to make reforms to their own systems. This paper examines procedural differences in national disability determination approaches in order to provide insights into the systems and counterpoints to the U.S. Ideally, these insights will aid reflection on the American approach. The research focuses on work capacity assessments for disability determination processes. The recognition that work capacity goes beyond a purely medical diagnosis is evident across our sample countries. In particular, current systems rely to a significant degree on an assessment of claimants’ functional capacity, beyond their medical condition. However, differences remain across the countries in the way they measure functional capacity and how that measurement translates into a work capacity determination. Moreover, there are variations in whether and to what extent a claimant’s medical and functional data is complemented by vocational or biographical information. Finally, for all of the countries included, there is an absence of structural, standardized consideration of the functional requirements of actual jobs in the economy and other environmental factors, against which the claimant’s capacity to work can be weighted.The Social Security Administration through the Michigan Retirement and Disability Research Center award RDR18000002-03, UM21-03http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/192450/1/wp438.pdfDescription of wp438.pdf : working paperSEL

The Impacts of the Social Security Statement Redesign on People’s Knowledge and Behavioral Intentions

Social Security information can be complex but is crucial for financial planning. The Social Security Statement, which was recently redesigned, aims to better inform the public. We assess the impact of the Statement’s redesign on people’s understanding of Social Security, their interest in acquiring further information, and their intended behavior, including their intended age for claiming retirement benefits. We do this through a randomized control trial of an information treatment that uses the revised and old versions of the Statement for the treatment and control groups, respectively. Finally, we show respondents an information screen and links that encourage them to check the revised Statement through their my Social Security account, and test whether those exposed to the revised Statement are more likely to click on them. We find that the redesigned Statement is more successful in improving understanding of critical issues around benefits. We also find evidence of higher clarity and interest in acquiring more information among those assigned to the redesigned Statement treatment, though we find no effects on clicks to my Social Security links. The redesign also affects the ages respondents intend to claim, but these effects dissipated by the time of the follow-up survey.The Social Security Administration through the Michigan Retirement and Disability Research Center award RDR18000002-04, UM22-Q2http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/192507/1/wp450.pdfDescription of wp450.pdf : working paperSEL

Mixed-methods Study to Understand Use of the my Social Security Online Platform

We conducted a mixed-methods study to examine barriers to use of my Social Security (MySSA), and users’ experience of using MySSA. The quantitative phase of the study leveraged existing survey data to analyze the determinants of self-reported MySSA account use. For the qualitative phase, we interviewed 24 individuals about their views and experiences with online transactions generally and with Social Security specifically, and their perceptions of the MySSA platform as they navigated it during the interview. The quantitative analysis suggests that internet literacy and, more generally, educational levels are barriers to MySSA use. Current SSA beneficiaries and older respondents were significantly more likely to be aware of, have an account, and use MySSA. From the qualitative results, we learn that there are four key reasons for not creating a MySSA account: (1) lack of awareness of MySSA; (2) no perceived relevance/need; (3) security and privacy concerns; and (4) low internet/computer literacy. We also observe that, overall, users perceive the MySSA platform to be clear, navigable, and relevant. Nonretired, nonbeneficiary participants found the information on the platform to be particularly instructive and useful. Our findings suggest that for younger people especially, MySSA could be a potentially useful financial and retirement preparedness tool. We find that a key challenge to MySSA use is getting people to create an account in the first place and not their retention once they create an account. Further research may be warranted to address the barriers to using MySSA, increasing engagement with the platform, and realizing its potential as a key resource for retirement readiness.U.S. Social Security Administration, RDR18000002-03, UM21-08http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/171797/1/wp428.pdfDescription of wp428.pdf : workSEL

Women's networking and alliance building: The politics of organizing in andaround place

Wendy harcourt, lila Rabinovich and Fatma Alloo explore the interconnections of meshworks and glocalities amongwomen's groups. They present a brief survey of the networking andalliance building being woven by women's place-based politics

Preliminary assessment of the economic impacts of alcohol pricing policy options in the UK

Alcohol has an important economic and socio-cultural place in the UK. It creates jobs, generates fiscal revenues in the form of alcohol taxes, and contributed around £2.7 billion2 in 2007 to the economy through trade (ONS, 2007b). Alcohol is shared in social interactions, and is drunk as an accompaniment to meals. While alcohol has been, and continues to be, consumed in an unproblematic way by many people, a proportion of alcohol consumption is problematic and generates harms for individuals and society. Alcohol misuse is high in the UK policy agenda. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), alcohol consumption in the UK increased by approximately 4 percent between 1985 and 2003, whereas it decreased over the same period for most other European Union countries (Rabinovich et al., 2009). At the same time, some alcoholrelated harms have grown over this period; for example, there were 8,758 deaths from alcohol-related causes in the UK in 2006, twice as many as there were 15 years before (National Audit Office, 2008). While there is a large body of literature focusing on the variety and extent of the public health and criminal justice impacts of alcohol use, its economic impact has received relatively less attention. In order to help Government assess the full range of implications from proposed alcohol pricing policies, RAND Europe has undertaken this study to provide evidence in the area of potential economic impacts of the following three pricing policy options: minimum pricing, ban on below-cost sales, and taxation

Assessment of the implementation of the EU Drugs Strategy 2005—2012 and its Action Plans.

As the Strategy comes to an end in 2012 and a decision will need to be taken about its successor, the European Commission commissioned an evaluation of the Strategy and its Action Plans (2005–2008 and 2009–2012). This evaluation focuses on the added value of these documents for drugs policy in Member States and third countries. As the competencies for drugs policy (including its public health, criminal justice, enforcement, and customs components) remain primarily at Member State level, the EU Drugs Strategy is expected to add value over national drugs strategies. Therefore, we provide an assessment of the relevance and influence of the current Strategy and the implementation of the Action Plans in Member States and at EU level. This summary first sets out our study’s main findings: first overall findings about the Strategy as a document and a process; second, across each of the two policy areas, demand reduction and supply reduction; and third, across the three cross-cutting themes of the Strategy, coordination; international cooperation; and information, research and evaluation. Finally, the summary provides a brief overview of the evaluation questions and responses arrived at in the course of the study

Women's Networking and Alliance Building: The politics of organizing in and around place

Wendy Harcourt, Lila Rabinovich and Fatma Alloo explore the interconnections of meshworks and glocalities among women's groups. They present a brief survey of the networking and alliance building being woven by women's place-based politics. Development (2002) 45, 42–47. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1110316