Longitudinal administrative data show that rejected male applicants to the Disability Insurance (DI) program who are younger or have low-mortality impairments such as back pain and mental health problems exhibit substantial labor force attachment. While we confirm that employment rates of older rejected applicants are low, continued high numbers of younger and low-mortality beneficiaries have raised the potential employment of DI beneficiaries. Three findings support economic inducement to apply. Mean preapplication earnings have fallen, rejected applicants experience preapplication declines in earnings, and beneficiaries whose first applications were rejected at the DDS level but who ultimately received benefits exhibit substantial employment. (JEL: H55, J14, J28, J31)

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Second mortgages accounted for 10.8% of the stock of outstanding mortgage debt at the end of 1987, up from 3.6% at the beginning of the 198Os.This paper investigates the determinants of second mortgage borrowing and the characteristics of second mortgage borrowers. We first calculate the outstanding stock of home equity that remains to be borrowed against on tax-preferred terms, recognizing the limits on interest deductions in the 1986Tax Reform Act and the 1987 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.Despite these limits, we estimate that more than two trillion dollars of housing equity remains to be borrowed against by current homeowners. We then present cross-sectional evidence suggesting that households who obtain second mortgages after purchasing a home ace less wealthy than other households with similar characteristics. Each dollar of second mortgage borrowing is associated with a seventy-five cent reduction in household net worth. While these results cannot be given a causal interpretation, they are consistent with the view that increased access to second mortgages has reduced personal saving.

We use survey data to compare the income and consumption of baby boomers in 1989 with that of their parents' generation in the early 1960s when they were the same ages. Various adjustments allow for changes in household composition and living arrangements. We also assess how wealth accumulation by baby boomers compares to that of their parents' generation. We find that boomers on average have accumulated more wealth relative to income at this point in their lives than their parents' generation had at the same stage of life 30 years ago. However, measured consumption has not increased as much as measured income for young adults.

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