TY  - JOUR
AU  - Conti,Rena M.
AU  - Berndt,Ernst R.
AU  - Frank,Richard G.
TI  - Early Retirement and Public Disability Insurance Applications: Exploring the Impact of Depression
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12237
PY  - 2006
Y2  - May 2006
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12237
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12237.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Ernst R. Berndt
MIT Sloan School of Management
100 Main Street, E62-518
Cambridge, MA 02142
Tel: 617/253-2665
Fax: 617-227-0880
E-Mail: eberndt@mit.edu

Richard Frank
Department of Health Care Policy
Harvard Medical School
180 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: 617/432-0178
Fax: 617/432-1219
E-Mail: frank@hcp.med.harvard.edu
M2  - featured in NBER digest on 2006-05-15
AB  - This paper investigates the impact of depression on labor force participation among older workers. Empirically, we use two analytic strategies and rely on a sample drawn from the Health and Retirement Survey. Depression directly and indirectly increases individuals%u2019 probability of retiring early and applying for DI benefits, after accounting for other predictors of labor force exit. Accounting for the independent effects of depression, disability associated with physical illness may be smaller than the official statistics suggest. There may be great economic gains in increasing depression treatment awareness and access to treatment for individuals, employers and society.
ER  -