Overview
Michelle Stegman Bailey is a researcher at the Social Security Administration's Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics. Her work focuses on descriptive analysis of DI and SSI program populations, producing cross-sectional profiles of beneficiary demographics, income, poverty, and health insurance, as well as pre-application employment patterns of applicants.
Key Contributions / Features
- Co-authored (with Jeffrey Hemmeter) a series of SSA Research and Statistics Notes documenting the characteristics of noninstitutionalized DI and SSI program participants using SIPP-administrative record matched data; the 2014 note covers December 2010 program populations.
- Documented the anti-poverty impact of DI: absent benefits, 50.5% of DI beneficiaries would fall below the federal poverty threshold; DI reduces the aggregate poverty gap by 87.3%.
- Contreary, Honeycutt, Stegman Bailey, and Mastrianni (2017) — Co-author of the SIPP-SSA study characterizing pre-application employment patterns of DI applicants and introducing the Type 1/Type 2 taxonomy. ~47% of applicants (Type 2) had no or intermittent employment in the 24 months before application — beyond the reach of employer-focused early-intervention programs. Type 2 applicants are more female (53–57%), more Black (22–23%), have lower household incomes (46,178vs.62,986 for Type 1), and participate at higher rates in Medicaid and SNAP.
- Hemmeter and Bailey (2016) — Co-authored with Jeffrey Hemmeter; IZA Journal of Labor Policy 5:11; CDR Waterfall file linked to earnings (N=2,124,835 DI workers, 1998–2008); upper-bound exit margin study of post-cessation employment; ~70% of ceased beneficiaries have post-FMR earnings but only 20% maintain SGA-level or poverty-level earnings in all follow-up years; cessation impact upper bound ~43 pp; expanding CDRs to marginal cases yields substantially worse outcomes. See Causal Effects of DI Receipt.
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