Overview
Economist at the Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics (ORES), Social Security Administration. Works on retirement policy, early retiree health and financial status, and disability program interactions with the retirement system.
Key Contributions / Features
- Early retiree health and financial status (Leonesio, Vaughan, and Wixon 2000): Documented baseline health and economic characteristics of OASI early retirees using SIPP-linked administrative data.
- Early retirement age policy analysis (Leonesio and Wixon 2004): Showed that raising the Social Security early retirement age would leave a substantial minority of health-impaired 62–64 year olds without any safety net, because most cannot qualify for DI (insufficient work history) or SSI (assets above means test). Early retirement benefits function as a de facto disability program for this population. See Early Retirement Safety Net Gap.
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