看不见的创伤：精神残疾津贴如何塑造退伍军人福祉
Invisible Wounds: How Mental Disability Benefits Shape Veteran Well-Being
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy · 2026 · [{"name": "David Silver", "affiliation": ["University of California, Santa Barbara"]}, {"name": "Jonathan Zhang", "affiliation": ["New York State Office of Mental Health"]}]
中文摘要
本文研究退伍军人事务部（VA）残疾补偿对申领精神障碍认定的庞大且快速增长的退伍军人群体健康与福祉的影响。我们利用退伍军人被准随机分配给评估倾向各异的医学鉴定人这一设计。补偿每年额外增加1,000美元，使5年内的食物无保障和无家可归分别下降4.1%和1.3%。医疗服务利用增加，预防性保健的参与度提高。我们对健康与死亡率估计出精确的零平均效应（即被精确估计、可排除较大效应的零效应）。处于申请被拒边缘的申请人平均而言比其他申请人结果更差，且有提示性证据表明该亚群体存在较大的处理效应。（JEL I12, I31, I38, J14）
Abstract
We study impacts of VA disability compensation on the health and well-being of the large and rapidly growing population of veterans claiming mental disorders. We leverage quasi-random assignment of veterans to medical examiners with varying assessing tendencies. An additional $1,000 per year decreases food insecurity and homelessness by 4.1 and 1.3 percent over 5 years. Health care utilization increases, with greater engagement in preventive care. We estimate precise null average effects on health and mortality. Those on the margin of claim denial experience worse outcomes on average than other applicants, with suggestive evidence of large treatment effects for this subpopulation. (JEL I12, I31, I38, J14)