Overview

The papers in this volume are devoted to the analysis of disability, work, and cash benefits. The authors seek to understand the causes of work disability and the types of interventions that might enable indi viduals to remain at work, return to work, or enter the workforce for the first time, despite having chronic health conditions or impairments. There are several reasons for this interest, and these concerns form the backdrop for the studies included here. First, all would agree that a life of productive employment, when it is practical, is far more desirable for individuals with disabilities and for their families and society at large than a life of relying on cash ben efits as a substitute for wages. Moreover, even when persons with dis abilities cannot be fully self-supporting, there may be major gains in family economic welfare and substantial contribution to aggregate pro ductivity when impairments can be ameliorated or accommodated to permit some paid work