IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ntj/journl/v58y2005i3p523-43.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Winners and Losers Under Various Approaches to Slowing Social Security Benefit Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Harris, Amy Rehder
  • Simpson, Michael

Abstract

Under current projections, payroll tax revenues and accumulated interest in the Social Security trust fund will be insufficient to pay scheduled benefits when workers entering the labor force today reach retirement age. Given this outlook, three policy options for slowing future benefit growth are considered. Each achieves sustainable solvency according to the Flat Fund Ratio criterion. Winners and losers across birth cohorts and income groups are identified under reforms including immediate and permanent benefit cuts, linking benefits to life expectancy and limiting initial benefit growth to price rather than wage inflation. Reforms are considered with and without a minimum benefit.

Suggested Citation

  • Harris, Amy Rehder & Simpson, Michael, 2005. "Winners and Losers Under Various Approaches to Slowing Social Security Benefit Growth," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 58(3), pages 523-543, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:ntj:journl:v:58:y:2005:i:3:p:523-43
    DOI: 10.17310/ntj.2005.3.14
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.17310/ntj.2005.3.14
    Download Restriction: Access is restricted to subscribers and members of the National Tax Association.
    File URL: https://doi.org/10.17310/ntj.2005.3.14
    Download Restriction: Access is restricted to subscribers and members of the National Tax Association.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17310/ntj.2005.3.14?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    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, August.
    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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John Sabelhaus & Julie Topoleski, 2006. "Uncertain Policy for an Uncertain World: The Case of Social Security: Working Paper 2006-05," Working Papers 17664, Congressional Budget Office.
    2. John Sabelhaus & Lina Walker, 2009. "Econometric flexibility in microsimulation: an age-centred regression approach," International Journal of Microsimulation, International Microsimulation Association, vol. 2(2), pages 1-14.
    3. Nitz, Lawrence H., 2010. "Who Loses: An examination of losses in housing net worth, non-housing assets, and total savings from 2007 to 2008 among American families," MPRA Paper 24897, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Lassila, Jukka & Valkonen, Tarmo, 2007. "Longevity Adjustment of Pension Benefits," Discussion Papers 1073, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.

    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. Jeffrey R. Brown & Julia Lynn Coronado & Don Fullerton, 2009. "Is Social Security Part of the Social Safety Net?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 23, pages 37-72, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jeffrey B. Liebman, 2002. "Redistribution in the Current U.S. Social Security System," NBER Chapters, in: The Distributional Aspects of Social Security and Social Security Reform, pages 11-48, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Shinichi Nishiyama & Kent Smetters, 2006. "Social Security Privatization with Income-Mortality Correlation," Working Papers wp140, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    4. Tim Krieger & Christine Meemann & Stefan Traub, 2022. "Inequality, Life Expectancy, and the Intragenerational Redistribution Puzzle - Some Experimental Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 9677, CESifo.
    5. Shinichi Nishiyama & Kent Smetters, 2008. "The Optimal Design of Social Security Benefits," Working Papers wp197, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    6. 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.
    7. John Geanakoplos & Stephen P. Zeldes, 2009. "Reforming Social Security with Progressive Personal Accounts," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment, pages 73-121, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Teresa Ghilarducci & Michael Papadopoulos & Wei Sun & Anthony Webb, 2017. "“Catch-Up Contributions†An Equitable and Affordable Solution to the Retirement Savings Crisis," SCEPA working paper series. 2017-02, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    9. Matthew Smith & Owen Zidar & Eric Zwick, 2020. "Top Wealth in America: New Estimates and Implications for Taxing the Rich," Working Papers 264, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    10. Hans Fehr & Sabine Jokisch & Laurence J Kotlikoff, 2006. "Will China Eat Our Lunch or Take Us to Dinner? Simulating the Transition Paths of the US, EU, Japan and China," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: Christopher Kent & Anna Park & Daniel Rees (ed.),Demography and Financial Markets, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    11. Alan Gustman & Thomas Steinmeier & Nahid Tabatabai, 2014. "Distributional Effects of Means Testing Social Security: An Exploratory Analysis," NBER Working Papers 20546, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Laun, Tobias & Markussen, Simen & Vigtel, Trond Christian & Wallenius, Johanna, 2018. "Health, Longevity and Pension Reform," Working Paper Series 2018:9, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    13. John B. Shoven & Sita Nataraj Slavov, 2012. "When Does It Pay to Delay Social Security? The Impact of Mortality, Interest Rates, and Program Rules," NBER Working Papers 18210, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Erin Cottle Hunt & Frank N. Caliendo, 2022. "Social security and risk sharing: A survey of four decades of economic analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1591-1609, December.
    15. Alan L. Gustman & Thomas L. Steinmeier & Nahid Tabatabai, 2011. "The Effects of Changes in Women’s Labor Market Attachment on Redistribution Under the Social Security Benefit Formula," Working Papers wp248, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    16. Rodrigo Leandro de Moura & Jaime de Jesus Filho & Paulo S�rgio Braga Tafner & Ligia Helena da Cruz Ourives, 2013. "Social security effects on income distribution: a counterfactual analysis for Brazil," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(7), pages 631-637, May.
    17. Wojciech Kopczuk, 2015. "What Do We Know about the Evolution of Top Wealth Shares in the United States?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 47-66, Winter.
    18. 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.
    19. S. Brock Blomberg & Thomas DeLeire & Gregory D. Hess, 2006. "The (After) Life-Cycle Theory of Religious Contributions," CESifo Working Paper Series 1854, CESifo.
    20. Huggett, Mark & Ventura, Gustavo & Yaron, Amir, 2006. "Human capital and earnings distribution dynamics," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 265-290, March.

    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:ntj:journl:v:58:y:2005:i:3:p:523-43. 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: The University of Chicago Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.ntanet.org/ .

    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.