Eric French

Overview

Professor of Economics at University College London and former senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Works on labor supply, health and retirement, disability insurance, and structural life-cycle models.

Key Contributions / Features

• Causal effect of DI receipt on labor supply (French and Song 2014): Using quasi-random ALJ assignment as an IV, estimated a 26 pp causal reduction in labor force participation from DI benefit receipt. Showed that OLS ≈ IV at the ALJ appeal stage and that over 60% of denied applicants eventually receive benefits within ten years. See Disability Insurance Program and DI Denied Population.
• Causal effect of DI allowance on mortality (Black et al. 2024): Co-authored the extension of the ALJ judge leniency design to 10-year mortality (N = 610,231, ages 55–64, 1995–2004). LATE = +2.8 pp for marginal appellants; MTE analysis reveals this masks opposing effects — inframarginal (sicker) recipients benefit while marginal (healthier) recipients face increased mortality via work disincentives. See Causal Effects of DI Receipt and DI Beneficiary Mortality.

Related

• Jae Song
• Disability Insurance Program
• DI Denied Population
• SSA Sequential Determination Process

Sources

• French and Song 2014 — The Effect of Disability Insurance Receipt on Labor Supply
• Black French McCauley and Song 2024 — The Effect of Disability Insurance Receipt on Mortality
• Bound Lindner and Waidmann 2014 — Reconciling Findings on the Employment Effect of Disability Insurance
• Deshpande and Lockwood 2022 — Beyond Health Nonhealth Risk and the Value of Disability Insurance
• Low and Pistaferri 2020 — Disability Insurance Theoretical Trade-Offs and Empirical Evidence
• Strand and Messel 2019 — The Ability of Older Workers with Impairments to Adapt to New Jobs