Kraftig økning i uføretrygd i USA
I mange vestlige land er andelen uføretrygdede bekymringsverdig høy. Mange forklaringer er fremmet, og den mest kontroversielle er kanskje at det foregår en form for selvtrygding, der det er den trygdedes egenbeskrivelse som tillegges avgjørende vekt.
I dagens utgave av Economist drøftes den betydelige økningen i uføretrygd i USA (omtrent en dobling siden 80-tallet), med særlig vekt på forholdet mellom uføretrygd og arbeidsledighetstrygd:
"More generous unemployment benefits tend to elevate participation rates since workers must be looking for work to qualify. With disability insurance (DI), however, the opposite applies: to qualify applicants must generally demonstrate that they cannot work. In theory, disability and unemployment should not be correlated—and from 1966 to 1985 they were not, according to a new study prepared for the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity by Olivier Coibion and two others. But in 1984 DI eligibility criteria were eased so that applicants could qualify based on a combination of conditions rather than just one. Since then, highly subjective conditions such as back pain and mental illnesses have grown to account for most DI beneficiaries, and claims have become more correlated with unemployment (see right-hand chart). That strongly suggests that many workers find a way to qualify for DI when other benefits have been exhausted."
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