The Distributional Aspects of Social Security and Social Security Reform
469 pages
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50 line drawings, 83 tables
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6 x 9
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© 2001
Social security is the largest and perhaps the most popular program run by the federal government. Given the projected increase in both individual life expectancy and sheer number of retirees, however, the current system faces an eventual overload. Alternative proposals have emerged, ranging from reductions in future benefits to a rise in taxrevenue to various forms of investment-based personal retirement accounts.
As this volume suggests, the distributional consequences of these proposals are substantially different and may disproportionately affect those groups who depend on social security to avoid poverty in old age. Together, these studies persuasively show that appropriately designed investment-based social security reforms can effectively reduce the long-term burden of an aging society on future taxpayers, increase the expected future income of retirees, and mitigate poverty rates among the elderly.
As this volume suggests, the distributional consequences of these proposals are substantially different and may disproportionately affect those groups who depend on social security to avoid poverty in old age. Together, these studies persuasively show that appropriately designed investment-based social security reforms can effectively reduce the long-term burden of an aging society on future taxpayers, increase the expected future income of retirees, and mitigate poverty rates among the elderly.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
1. Redistribution in the Current U.S. Social
Security System
2. Gauranteed Income: SSI and the Well-Being
of the Elderly Poor
3. The Impact of Social Security and Other Factors
on the Distribution of Wealth
4. Social Security and Inequality over the Life Cycle
5. Long-Run Effects of Social Security Reform
Proposals on Lifetime Progressivity
6. Social Security's Treatment of Postwar
Americans: How Bad Can It Get?
7. The Distributional Effects of an Investment-Based
Social Security System
8. Distributional Effects in a General Equilibrium
Analysis of Social Security
9. The Economics of Bequests in Pensions and
Social Security
10. Differential Mortality and the Value of
Individual Account Retirement Annuities
Appendix: Estimating Life Tables That Reflect
Socioeconomic Differences in Mortality
Contributors
Author Index
Subject Index
Introduction
1. Redistribution in the Current U.S. Social
Security System
2. Gauranteed Income: SSI and the Well-Being
of the Elderly Poor
3. The Impact of Social Security and Other Factors
on the Distribution of Wealth
4. Social Security and Inequality over the Life Cycle
5. Long-Run Effects of Social Security Reform
Proposals on Lifetime Progressivity
6. Social Security's Treatment of Postwar
Americans: How Bad Can It Get?
7. The Distributional Effects of an Investment-Based
Social Security System
8. Distributional Effects in a General Equilibrium
Analysis of Social Security
9. The Economics of Bequests in Pensions and
Social Security
10. Differential Mortality and the Value of
Individual Account Retirement Annuities
Appendix: Estimating Life Tables That Reflect
Socioeconomic Differences in Mortality
Contributors
Author Index
Subject Index
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Economics and Business: Economics--Development, Growth, Planning | Economics--History
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