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I s Australia One Recession Away from a Disability Blowout? Lessons from Other Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development Countries
Author(s) -
Burkhauser Richard V.,
Daly Mary C.,
Lucking Brian T.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
australian economic review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1467-8462
pISSN - 0004-9018
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8462.2013.12030.x
Subject(s) - receipt , recession , pension , work (physics) , development economics , economic growth , economic policy , financial crisis , political science , economics , business , finance , mechanical engineering , accounting , keynesian economics , engineering , macroeconomics
A blowout in disability‐based cash transfer programmes resulted in fundamental reforms over the last decade in several Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development countries. Similar reforms are being proposed in the United States in the wake of its disability programme growth following the Global Financial Crisis. We compare trends in US and Australian disability receipt with those of the Netherlands and Sweden and argue that Australia's current Disability Support Pension programme is vulnerable to the same forces that caused unsustainable programme growth in these countries. Absent fundamental reforms focused on return to work over benefit receipt means that Australia could be one recession away from disability benefit blowout .