Latent factor modelling of disability

This PhD thesis uses survey data and involves the application of latent factor structural equation methods to the study of the economics of disability and disability policy in later life, a topic which is currently very high on the policy agenda. It comprises four studies. The first chapter investigates the presence of health-related sample attrition (the drop-out of eligible sample members over time) in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). The second chapter examines whether different indic ators of disability, collected in three widely-used household surveys, are consistent with a common set of findings relating to the targeting of disability benefits. In the third chapter we estimate the additional per sonal costs experienced by disabled older people to achieve the same material standard of living as similar people living without disability. Chapter 4 assesses the presence of socio-economic disparities in birth-cohort trends in later life physical and cognitive disability and in the receipt of non-means-tested cash disability benefits.