Download or read book The Distributional Aspects of Social Security and Social Security Reform written by Martin Feldstein and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Political Economy of Social Security written by B.A. Gustafsson and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2016-01-26 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In many western countries with slow economic growth and population growth the increasing cost of the social security system is a concern. The contributions in this volume address this issue from various angles, theoretically as well as empirically and also taking into account institutional conditions. This book discusses current social security policy issues and related research from a number of western countries. Papers include the following subjects: - Recent policy changes in the UK and the Federal Public of Germany - Distributional effects of social security - Public choice models of social security - Economic incentive effects of unemployment insurance and occupational pensions - The macroeconomic effects of the growth of benefits and their financing

Download or read book The Gender Impact of Social Security Reform written by Estelle James and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As populations age and revenues diminish, government and private pension funds around the world are facing insolvency. The looming social security crisis is especially dire for women, who live longer than men but have worked less in the formal labor force. This groundbreaking study examines alternative social security systems and their disparate impacts on men and women. Emphasis is placed on the new multi-pillar systems that combine a publicly managed benefit and a mandatory private retirement saving plan. The Gender Impact of Social Security Reform compares the gendered outcomes of social security systems in Chile, Argentina, and Mexico, and presents empirical findings from Eastern and Central European transition economies as well as several OECD countries. Women’s positions have improved relative to men in countries where joint pensions have been required, widows who have worked can keep the joint pension in addition to their own benefit, the public benefit has been targeted toward low earners, and women’s retirement age has been raised to equality with that of men. The Gender Impact of Social Security Reform will force economists and policy makers to reexamine the design features that enable social security systems to achieve desirable gender outcomes.

Download or read book Making Sense of Social Security Reform written by Daniel Shaviro and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Social Security Act of 1935 must be counted among the most monumental pieces of legislation ever passed by Congress. Today, sixty-five years after its enactment, public support for Social Security remains extremely strong. At the same time, there have been reports that Social Security is in grave danger of financial collapse, and numerous groups across the political spectrum have agitated for its reform. The president has put forward proposals to rescue Social Security, conservatives argue for its privatization, and liberals advocate increases in its funding from surplus tax revenues. But what is the average person to make of all this? How many Americans know where the money for Social Security benefits really comes from, or who wins and loses from the system's overall operations? Few people understand the current Social Security system in even its broadest outlines. And yet Social Security reform is ranked among the most important social issues of our time. With Making Sense of Social Security Reform, Daniel Shaviro makes an important contribution to the public understanding of the issues involved in reforming Social Security. His book clearly and straightforwardly describes the current system and the pressures that have been brought to bear upon it, before dissecting and evaluating the various reform proposals. Accessible to anyone who has an interest in the issue, Shaviro's new work is unique in offering a balanced, nonpartisan account.

Download or read book Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment written by Jeffrey R. Brown and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-12-15 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment analyzes the changing economic and demographic environment in which social insurance programs that benefit elderly households will operate. It also explores how these ongoing trends will affect future beneficiaries, under both the current social security program and potential reform options. In this volume, an esteemed group of economists probes the challenge posed to Social Security by an aging population. The researchers examine trends in private sector retirement saving and health care costs, as well as the uncertain nature of future demographic, economic, and social trends—including marriage and divorce rates and female participation in the labor force. Recognizing the ambiguity of the environment in which the Social Security system must operate and evolve, this landmark book explores factors that policymakers must consider in designing policies that are resilient enough to survive in an economically and demographically uncertain society.

Download or read book Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World written by Axel Börsch-Supan and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2021-03-05 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ninth phase of the International Social Security project, which studies the experiences of twelve developed countries, examines the effects of public pension reform on employment at older ages. In the past two decades, men’s labor force participation at older ages has increased, reversing a long-term pattern of decline; participation rates for older women have increased dramatically as well. While better health, more education, and changes in labor-supply behavior of married couples may have affected this trend, these factors alone cannot explain the magnitude of the employment increase or its large variation across countries. The studies in this volume explore how financial incentives to work at older ages have evolved as a result of public pension reforms since 1980 and how these changes have affected retirement behavior. Utilizing a common template to analyze the developments across countries, the findings suggest that social security reforms have strengthened the financial returns to working at older ages and that these enhanced financial incentives have contributed to the rise in late-life employment.

Download or read book Social Security Reform written by Peter A. Diamond and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2002 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Also considered are the risks in the political process."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book Social Security Pension Reform in Europe written by Martin Feldstein and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-02-15 with total page 515 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Security in the United States and in Europe is at a critical juncture. Through the essays assembled in Social Security Pension Reform in Europe, Martin Feldstein and Horst Siebert, along with a number of distinguished contributors, discuss the challenges facing Social Security reform in the aging societies of Europe. A remarkable range of European nations—Germany, France, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Hungary—have implemented or are about to implement mixed Social Security systems that combine a traditional defined benefit of the pay-as-you-go system with an individual retirement account defined contribution of a capital-funded system. The essays here highlight the problems that the European pension reform process faces and how it differs from that of the United States. This timely volume will significantly enrich the debate on pension reform worldwide.

Download or read book Saving Social Security written by Peter A. Diamond and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2006-05-25 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New in Paperback. While everyone agrees that Social Security is a vital and necessary government program, there have been widely divergent plans for reforming it. Peter A. Diamond and Peter R. Orszag, two of the nation's foremost economists, propose a reform plan that would rescue the program both from its projected financial problems and from those who would destroy the program in order to save it. Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2004, the Social Security debate has moved to the center of the domestic policy agenda. In this updated edition of Saving Social Security, the authors analyze the Bush Administration's proposal for individual accounts and discuss the so-called "price indexing" proposal to restore long-term solvency through changing how initial benefits would be calculated. Soc ial Security is essis essential reading for policymakers involved in reform, analysts, students, and all those interested in the fate of this safeguard of American lives. "An honest, transparent and comprehensive approach to making the much needed reforms to the Social Security program."—Journal of Pensions, Economics, and Finance "Very accessible presentation of facts, analysis of underlying problems, comparison of opinions, and argument for proposed reforms."—Future Survey Exhaustively researched and deeply entrenched in practical issues and mathematical calculations... a highly recommended ray of hope against a looming national crisis." —Wisconsin Bookwatch "Diamond and Orszag bring some welcome realism and decency to the debate."—Robert M. Solow, Institute Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nobel Laureate in Economics

Download or read book Is It Time to Reform Social Security written by Edward M. Gramlich and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIVThe chair of the recent Social Security Advisory Council explains and shares his views on Social Security reform /div

Download or read book Social Security Reform written by Robin Brooks and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-04-04 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the underlying economic issues of the debate over public pension system reform.

Download or read book Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World written by Jonathan Gruber and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-02-15 with total page 752 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World represents the second stage of an ongoing research project studying the relationship between social security and labor. In the first volume, Jonathan Gruber and David A. Wise revealed enormous disincentives to continued work at older ages in developed countries. Provisions of many social security programs typically encourage retirement by reducing pay for work, inducing older employees to leave the labor force early and magnifying the financial burden caused by an aging population. At a certain age there is simply no financial benefit to continuing to work. In this volume, the authors turn to a country-by-country analysis of retirement behavior based on micro-data. The result of research compiled by teams in twelve countries, the volume shows an almost uniform correlation between levels of social security incentives and retirement behavior in each country. The estimates also show that the effect is strikingly uniform in countries with very different cultural histories, labor market institutions, and other social characteristics.

Download or read book The Economics of Social Security Reform written by Peter A. Diamond and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic analysis centers on three questions whether to have a mixed defined contribution (DC)/defined benefit (DB) plan and how to invest the funding. The paper compares a DB funded plan with a funded DC plan without any individual choice. The paper then considers individu choice about benefits, with particular attention to widows. Portfolio choice is considered for a central fund and in individual accounts, particularly the costs of implementation, as are the implications of greater funding. The implications for the labor market are examined. The major economic issues are not controversial. More funding involves higher taxes (or lower benefits) in the near-term in order to have lower taxes (or higher benefits) in the long run. More funding can reduce the frequency of needed adjustments to Social Security and can increase national savings. These economic effects are similar with or without individual accounts, although the politics will differ. The financial advantage of a diversified portfolio applies to a central fund, whether for a DC or a DB. Indeed, a DB that adjusts well handles risk better than a DC. Economically, the case for diversification is clear, but political questions arise about investing well and avoiding improper interference in corporate governance. Individual accounts respond to political concerns and allow diversity in individual portfolios but add to administrative costs and raise questions about the quality of individual investment decisions. They also raise the political question of maintaining redistribution. It is unclear whether individual accounts would make the labor market more or less efficient. My bottom line is that a well-run DB system is economically more efficient than a mixed DC/DB system. The real issue then becomes how well the US government could run either system.

Download or read book Privatizing Social Security written by Martin Feldstein and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume represents the most important work to date on one of the pressing policy issues of the moment: the privatization of social security. Although social security is facing enormous fiscal pressure in the face of an aging population, there has been relatively little published on the fundamentals of essential reform through privatization. Privatizing Social Security fills this void by studying the methods and problems involved in shifting from the current system to one based on mandatory saving in individual accounts. "Timely and important. . . . [Privatizing Social Security] presents a forceful case for a radical shift from the existing unfunded, pay-as-you-go single national program to a mandatory funded program with individual savings accounts. . . . An extensive analysis of how a privatized plan would work in the United States is supplemented with the experiences of five other countries that have privatized plans." —Library Journal "[A] high-powered collection of essays by top experts in the field."—Timothy Taylor, Public Interest

Download or read book Economics of Social Security Reform and Overview written by Peter A. Diamond and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Social Security Reform written by Barbara D. Bovbjerg (ed) and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2005-09 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sooner our nation acts to address Social Security's long-term financial challenges, the easier it will be to successfully meet them. The choices are not difficult to understand, but they are difficult to make. They affect both how much Americans pay for Social Security & how much they receive from the program. They require changes that not only will affect us but have implications for future generations. This guide provides answers to questions about the most basic aspects of Social Security & reform issues in a concise & easy-to-understand format. It provides straightforward answers to how Social Security works, why it needs reform, what the basic options are, & how to assess their implications.

Download or read book Social Security and Its Discontents written by Michael Tanner and published by Cato Institute. This book was released on 2004 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tanner (Cato Project on Social Security Choice) brings together work by leaders in Social Security reform, examining problems of the current system and offering proposals for reform. Contributors in economics, law, and philosophy, many affiliated with the Cato Institute, examine aspects of the problem related to issues such as property rights, the impact of Social Security reform on low-income workers, and how stock market declines affect the reform debate. They advocate allowing younger workers to privately invest their Social Security taxes through individual accounts.