IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/rmgtin/v10y2007i1p87-92.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Security Bonds and the Concept of Reciprocal Responsibility

Author

Listed:
  • William L. Holahan
  • Charles O. Kroncke

Abstract

The current debate and parallel monologues about Social Security suffer from a failure to distinguish between money and bonds. Consequently, it is impossible to discuss intelligently the solvency or affordability of the Social Security system. In this article, we present a new graph that clarifies this crucial distinction. Bonds are evidence of loans to be repaid on a schedule. These loans can be strictly monetary, as in the private sector, or a mix of monetary and moral, as in the intergenerational reciprocity of obligations. To treat public sector bonds as strictly monetary is economic error as fundamental as denying the existence of public goods.

Suggested Citation

  • William L. Holahan & Charles O. Kroncke, 2007. "Social Security Bonds and the Concept of Reciprocal Responsibility," Risk Management and Insurance Review, American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 10(1), pages 87-92, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:rmgtin:v:10:y:2007:i:1:p:87-92
    DOI: j.1540-6296.2007.00107.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6296.2007.00107.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/j.1540-6296.2007.00107.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Diamond, 1998. "The Economics of Social Security Reform," NBER Working Papers 6719, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. William L. Holahan & Mark C. Schug, 2000. "A Simple Exposition of the Social Security Trust Fund," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 340-348, December.
    3. Liqun Liu & Andrew J. Rettenmaier & Thomas R. Saving, 2005. "Private Accounts as a Solution to Social Security's Debt," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 20(Spring 20), pages 97-125.
    4. Peter A. Diamond (ed.), 1999. "Issues in Privatizing Social Security: Report of an Expert Panel of the National Academy of Social Insurance," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262041774, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Franz R. Hahn, 2003. "Fully-Funded Public Old Age Pension Programs – Stranger Than Paradise?," WIFO Working Papers 203, WIFO.
    2. Elsa Fornero, 2015. "Economic-financial Literacy and (Sustainable) Pension Reforms: Why the Former is a Key Ingredient for the Latter," Bankers, Markets & Investors, ESKA Publishing, issue 134, pages 6-16, January-F.
    3. Gunther Tichy, 2006. "Demografie-Prognoseschwäche, Arbeitsmarkt und Pensionsfinanzierung," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 32(2), pages 149-165.
    4. Casarico, Alessandra & Devillanova, Carlo, 2008. "Capital-skill complementarity and the redistributive effects of Social Security Reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3-4), pages 672-683, April.
    5. Peter A. Diamond, 2000. "Administrative Costs and Equilibrium Charges with Individual Accounts," NBER Chapters, in: Administrative Aspects of Investment-Based Social Security Reform, pages 137-172, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Casey B. Mulligan & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 1999. "Social security in theory and practice (II): Efficiency theories, narrative theories and implications for reform," Economics Working Papers 385, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    7. Michael Kaganovich & Itzhak Zilcha, 2008. "Alternative Social Security Systems and Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series 2353, CESifo.
    8. Luisa Fuster & Ayse Imrohoroglu & Selahattin Imrohoroglu, 2005. "Personal Security Accounts and Mandatory Annuitization in a Dynastic Framework," CESifo Working Paper Series 1405, CESifo.
    9. Olivera, Javier, 2010. "Recuperando la Solidaridad en el Sistema Peruano de Pensiones. Una Propuesta de Reforma [Recovering the Principle of Solidarity in the Peruvian Pension System. A reform proposal]," MPRA Paper 60194, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Martin Feldstein & Elena Ranguelova, 1998. "Individual Risk and Intergenerational Risk Sharing in an Investment-Based Social Security Program," NBER Working Papers 6839, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Georges de Menil, 2000. "A Comment on the Place of Funded Pensions in Transition Economies," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 7(4), pages 431-444, August.
    12. Thomas F. Siems, 2005. "Social Security: Tyranny of the Status Quo," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 21(Fall 2005), pages 142-156.
    13. Michal Slavík, 2006. "The Czech Pension System and the Perspectives of Its Reform," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2006(3), pages 214-230.
    14. Andras Simonovits, 1999. "The New Hungarian Pension System and its Problems," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 9901, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    15. Galasso, Vincenzo & D'Amato, Marcello, 2002. "Aggregate Risk, Political Constraints and Social Security Design," CEPR Discussion Papers 3330, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Barr, Nicholas, 2002. "Reforming pensions: myths, truths, and policy choices," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 286, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Hans-Werner Sinn, 2000. "Why a Funded Pension System is Needed and Why It is Not Needed," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 7(4), pages 389-410, August.
    18. Mr. Robert Gillingham & Mr. Daniel S Kanda, 2001. "Pension Reform in India," IMF Working Papers 2001/125, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Peter Diamond, 2023. "R. Douglas Arnold: Fixing Social Security: The Politics of Reform in a Polarized Age," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 58(2), pages 121-124, April.
    20. Youngse Mun & Inho Mun, 2012. "Privatizing the Social Security Program in the U.S.: How to Overcome the Transition Costs," International Review of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 39-62, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:rmgtin:v:10:y:2007:i:1:p:87-92. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1098-1616 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.