Author Date

2025-02-28

Degree Name

Department

Economics

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Defense Date

2025-03-04

Publication Date

2025-03-14

First Faculty Advisor

Riley Wilson

First Faculty Reader

Brigham Frandsen

Honors Coordinator

Mark Showalter

Keywords

judge, disability, sentiment, efficiency, economics, AI

Abstract

Administrative law judges (ALJs) play a significant role in the appeal process of the United States Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. This paper tests whether ALJ decisions are ”efficient” - based solely on case characteristics - or influenced by other factors, such as public review. Leveraging the random assignment of cases to ALJs within hearing offices, I analyze variation in ALJ award rates over time. The results show that while case characteristics influence ALJ decisions, they do not fully explain the decisions, suggesting the presence of additional explanatory factors.

I explore the impact of public review on ALJ decisions using a difference-in- differences approach, focusing on the launch of the DisabilityJudges.com platform in 2012, which allows the public to rate and comment on ALJs. The findings indicate that the platform’s launch reduced decision efficiency. Since the effect of the platform’s launch may have affected judges’ award rates differently depending on the sentiment of the reviews they received, I examine the effect of review sentiment on judge award rates. I find that while higher review sentiment predicts greater generosity, this relationship largely disappears when ALJ fixed effects are included.