The Political Roots of Disability Claims: How State Environments and Policies Shape Citizen Demands

Abstract

By examining a model of welfare demand in the Social Security Disability Insurance and the Supplemental Security Income programs, the authors test the hypothesis that state environments shape aggregate rates of welfare demand. They find that in addition to citizens' needs for government assistance, the density of civil society organizations, state officials' political perspectives and programs' generosity shape citizen demands on the welfare system. They call for a model of welfare-claiming behavior that accounts for differences across programs and stages of the claiming process.