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Social Security claiming decision of married men and widow poverty

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  • Sass, Steven A.
  • Sun, Wei
  • Webb, Anthony

Abstract

We find that most husbands claim Social Security before the ages that maximize the expected present value of their benefits. Although household benefits are only slightly reduced, the expected present value of widows’ benefits reduces by 17.7%, increasing their risk of poverty.

Suggested Citation

  • Sass, Steven A. & Sun, Wei & Webb, Anthony, 2013. "Social Security claiming decision of married men and widow poverty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 119(1), pages 20-23.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:119:y:2013:i:1:p:20-23
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.01.007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Feldstein, Martin & Liebman, Jeffrey B. (ed.), 2002. "The Distributional Aspects of Social Security and Social Security Reform," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226241067, October.
    2. Martin Feldstein & Jeffrey B. Liebman, 2002. "The Distributional Aspects of Social Security and Social Security Reform," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number feld02-1, June.
    3. Cathleen D. Zick & Karen Holden, 2000. "An Assessment of the Wealth Holdings of Recent Widows," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 55(2), pages 90-97.
    4. Alicia H. Munnell & Alex Golub-Sass & Nadia Karamcheva, 2009. "Strange But True: Free Loan From Social Security," Issues in Brief ib2009-9-6, Center for Retirement Research, revised Mar 2009.
    5. Michael D. Hurd & James P. Smith & Julie M. Zissimopoulos, 2004. "The effects of subjective survival on retirement and Social Security claiming," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 761-775.
    6. Alicia H. Munnell & Alex Golub-Sass & Nadia Karamcheva, 2009. "Strange But True: Claim Social Security Now, Claim More Later," Issues in Brief ib2009-9-9, Center for Retirement Research, revised Apr 2009.
    7. Alicia H. Munnell & Alex Golub-Sass & Nadia Karamcheva, 2009. "Strange But True: Claim and Suspend Social Security," Issues in Brief ib2009-9-11, Center for Retirement Research, revised May 2009.
    8. Jeffrey Brown & Jeffrey B. Liebman & Joshua Pollet, 2002. "Appendix. Estimating Life Tables That Reflect Socioeconomic Differences In Mortality," NBER Chapters, in: The Distributional Aspects of Social Security and Social Security Reform, pages 447-458, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Streeter, Jialu L., 2020. "Gender differences in widowhood in the short-run and long-run: Financial, emotional, and mental wellbeing," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    2. Naqun Huang & Jing Li & Amanda Ross, 2022. "Housing wealth shocks, home equity withdrawal, and the claiming of Social Security retirement benefits," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 620-644, April.
    3. Jason S. Scott & John B. Shoven & Sita N. Slavov & John G. Watson, 2020. "Can Low Retirement Savings Be Rationalized?," NBER Working Papers 26784, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Bronshtein, Gila & Scott, Jason & Shoven, John B. & Slavov, Sita Nataraj, 2020. "Leaving big money on the table: Arbitrage opportunities in delaying social security," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 261-272.
    5. Irena Dushi & Leora Friedberg & Anthony Webb, 2021. "Is the Adjustment of Social Security Benefits Actuarially Fair, and If So, for Whom?," SCEPA working paper series. 2021-04, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    6. Owen Davis & Siavash Radpour, 2021. "Older Workers' Wages Are Growing - But Not Fast Enough," SCEPA publication series. 2021-04, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    7. Jason Scott & John B. Shoven & Sita Slavov & John G. Watson, 2019. "Retirement Implications of a Low Wage Growth, Low Real Interest Rate Economy," NBER Working Papers 25556, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. David Knapp & Beth Asch & Jim Hosek & Michael G. Mattock, 2016. "The Retirement and Social Security Benefit Claiming of U.S. Military Retirees," Working Papers wp336, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social Security benefit; Widow’s survivor benefit; Claiming behavior; Widow poverty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions

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