David Stapleton

David (PhD, Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison) has been conducting disability policy research for over 30 years. Much of his work has focused on how the Social Security Administration’s disability programs affect the employment and income of people with disabilities, and the potential of policy reforms to improve income and employment. He was the director of Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy for 10 years. Among other things, he led or co-led the evaluations of Ticket to Work and the Benefit Offset National Demonstration and was the director of Mathematica’s Disability Research Consortium agreement with SSA. He also served as the co-leader of a project for the U.S. Department of Labor that was the genesis of the Retaining Employment and Talent after Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) demonstration. He led development of the Employment Eligibility Service system proposal, which is designed to ensure that applicants for SSA disability benefits have the support they needed to stay in the labor force rather than become dependent on benefits. David retired from Mathematica in 2018.