# Improving the Outcomes of Disabled Youth through Information

> **NIH NIH R21** · NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH · 2020 · $82,936

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract:
The goal of the proposed research is to test how expectations about the availability of disability
benefits in adulthood affect investments in child health. Although there is evidence on how
disability enrollment affects contemporaneous labor supply, there is little evidence on how the
expected future availability of disability benefits affects current incentives to invest in health and
human capital. The PIs will study how beliefs about the availability of Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) benefits in adulthood affect health investments during childhood and the long-term
well-being of disadvantaged children. SSI is a rapidly expanding program that provides cash
benefits and Medicaid eligibility to 1.3 million low-income, disabled children in the U.S., many of
whom are at risk for poor life outcomes. Nearly 70 percent of children with mental conditions
other than intellectual disability are removed from SSI at age 18, but qualitative evidence
indicates that SSI families underestimate the likelihood of removal from SSI. The hypothesis
motivating this project is that inaccurate beliefs about removal lead SSI households to
underinvest in the health and human capital of their children.
 The ultimate goal is to conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of providing the
families of SSI children with information about the SSI likelihood of removal at age 18 as well as
“nudges” and resources to promote health and human capital investments. The PIs will evaluate
the effects of the RCT on health and human capital investments and the long-term well-being of
SSI children in adulthood. To accomplish this goal, the PIs will 1) conduct a survey on parent
and child belief inaccuracies to inform the design of the RCT and 2) pilot the RCT. The survey
will serve three primary purposes: filling a gap in the literature by providing quantitative evidence
on whether households overestimate the availability of future SSI benefits; informing RCT
design by identifying subpopulations with particularly inaccurate beliefs and identifying barriers
to investment; and providing “baseline” beliefs about removal to facilitate analysis and
interpretation of the RCT effects.
 In addition, the PIs will pilot the RCT design, including written communication and
counselor outreach on the likelihood of removal and specific “nudges” and resources. For the
written communication, the PIs will test the number of responses to different letter and envelope
designs. For the counselor calls, the PIs will compare the effectiveness of several approaches in
contacting families, such as cold calling versus calling after an introductory text message. In
addition, the PIs will pilot various “nudges” to promote health investment, such as sending pre-
filled applications for vocational rehabilitation services, referring families to the closest
Community Health Center, and offering paid subscriptions to disability support groups and
literature. Piloting these approaches will...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9725833
- **Project number:** 5R21HD091472-02
- **Recipient organization:** NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
- **Principal Investigator:** Manasi Deshpande
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $82,936
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-06-17 → 2021-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9725833

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9725833, Improving the Outcomes of Disabled Youth through Information (5R21HD091472-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9725833. Licensed CC0.

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