Page 48 - IJPS-3-1

International Journal of Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Disability policies and public views on

work disability: A comparative analysis

using anchoring vignette data

Na Yin 1,2,3* and Frank Heiland 1,2,3

1 Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, Baruch College, The City
University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY, USA
2 CUNY Institute for Demographic Research, New York, NY, USA
3 The CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY, USA

Abstract: Using data on disability vignettes from representative surveys in the U.S.
and seven European countries, we conduct a comparative analysis of disability policies
and public views on work limitations. We hypothesize that program characteristics are
related to individuals’ perceptions about work limitations. Looking at how respondents
across countries characterize identical disability vignettes, we find evidence that
disability policy dimensions such as policy coverage, medical assessment, and
vocational assessment strongly predict disability perceptions. We illustrate the results
in a series of counterfactual policy simulations. Our findings have implications for
policy design and delivery. The anchoring vignette approach may also be useful in a
wide range of comparative policy studies.
Keywords: comparative analysis of disability policies; disability perception; anchoring
vignette approach
ARTICLE INFO
Received: September 6, 2016
Accepted: October 24, 2016 1 Introduction
Published Online: November 3,
2016
*CORRESPONDING AUTHOR 1.1 Motivation and Research Questions
Na Yin, Marxe School of Public
and International Affairs, Baruch Population aging has led to increases in activity limitations among the pre-retirement
College & CUNY Institute for
Demographic Research & The people across countries (Martin and Schoeni, 2014; Global Burden of Disease Study
CUNY Graduate Center, One 2013 Collaborators, 2015). It has presented significant challenges to societies trying to
Bernard Baruch Way D901, New
York, NY 10010, USA; maintain a productive work force and fund pay-as-you-go programs supporting older
Na.Yin@baruch.cuny.edu individuals such as social security. With recent reforms in many countries reducing the
generosity of public pensions (e.g., by increasing the age at which workers are eligible
CITATION to draw full benefits), older workers have increasingly sought assistance from public
Yin N and Heiland F (2017).
Disability policies and public disability programs (Duggan, Singleton and Song, 2007; GAO, 2010).
views on work disability: A Policymakers seek to both ensure the wellbeing of older workers with health
comparative analysis using
anchoring vignette data. Inter­ impairments and to improve the efficiency and sustainability of disability systems.
national Journal of Population For example, many European countries now emphasize the importance of supporting
Studies, 3(1): 42–63.
doi: 10.18063/IJPS. 2017.01.005. and encouraging work among those with health limitations (OECD, 2010). Similarly,
U.S. disability policy, which has traditionally focused on providing income to
Copyright: © 2017 Na Yin and individuals who cannot do any work, is experimenting with providing work incentives
Frank Heiland. This is an Open
Access article distributed under for individuals with health limitations. Recent examples include the Ticket to Work
the terms of the Creative Com ­ Program and the Benefit Offset National Demonstration Projects (see Livermore et
mons Attribution­Non Commercial
4.0 Inter national License (http:// al. (2013) for a summary of the main findings from evaluating the Ticket to Work
creativecommons.org/licenses/ Program, and see Weathers and Hemmeter (2011), for preliminary findings from the
by­nc/4.0/), permit ting all non­
commercial use, distribution, Benefit Offset National Demonstration pilot projects). Appendix A provides detailed
and reproduction in any medium, discussion about the benefit structure of OECD countries’ disability programs and their
provided the original work is
properly cited. policy lessons.
42 International Journal of Population Studies 2017, Volume 3, Issue 1