Losses from a Disability: Temporal Variety and Earnings in the Long Run

Daniel Hamermesh ()
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Daniel Hamermesh: University of Texas at Austin

No 18761, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: Using diaries covering 25-61-year-olds in the American Time Use Survey 2009-24, this study demonstrates that temporal variety—doing more different things in a day—is income superior. Linking these data to underlying Current Population Surveys, propensity-score models show that people stating that they have a mobility/physical disability in each of two consecutive annual surveys undertake almost 4 percent fewer activities per day than other, demographically identical individuals. They also earn about 50 percent less. Combining the estimated impact of income on temporal variety with the implied reductions in variety incurred by those with the disability yields a monetary equivalent of lost variety exceeding that of lost earnings. Measuring disability status only once yields much smaller estimated shortfalls in temporal variety and earnings. That suggests that one-time self-reports of disabilities, which underlie the bulk of studies on the impacts of disabilities on earnings, also underestimate long-term effects.

Keywords: time use; disability; torts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 K13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18761

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