AEI Event on Reforming the Disability Program

This Thursday I'll be moderating an event at AEI surrounding the release of The Declining Work and Welfare of People with Disabilities by Richard Burkhauser of Cornell University and Mary Daly of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Here's some info, followed by a short video promo. Click here to register – it should be good.

Disability policy in the United States is failing the disabled. Social Security's disability trust fund is projected to be insolvent in 2018, and the costs of our disability programs are rising at an unsustainable rate, yet the disabled are working less than ever before. Richard Burkhauser of Cornell, author of The Declining Work and Welfare of People with Disabilities (with Mary Daly, AEI Press, September 2011), offers a "work first" approach that has the potential to shrink caseloads, curb costs, and improve the economic outlook for people with disabilities. It builds on lessons learned from the mid-1990s welfare reform effort and the recent reform of Dutch disability policy. Encouraging work enables individuals to reap the benefits of a growing economy and lead happier, more productive lives. Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution and David Wittenburg of the Mathematica Policy Institute will respond.