EconTalk had an excellent interview about this: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/04/autor_on_disabi.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/04/autor_on_

EconTalk had an excellent interview about this: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/04/autor_on_disabi.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/04/autor_on_disabi.htm... This EconTalk is also interesting: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/12/mulligan_on_red.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/12/mulligan_on_red.htm... – the thing that really made me think is the observation that the marginal benefit of work is often negative for people on different assistance programs, and that comes up in the first interview too. To try to get ahead, to try to get off disability, will put you behind where you'd have otherwise been. I think it also offers something of a solution, to look at the entirety of the support systems and make sure that there's always a benefit to being more beneficial to society. I suspect that would largely mean increasing benefits for the not-quite-poor, or the almost-disabled, etc. But if a well managed slope of benefits is achieved, the incentives may lead to less total dependence. It's also something that, in theory, could be supported by Republicans and Democrats, as analysis is based on ideas that are appealing to both sides.