IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/revpoe/v18y2006i3p391-411.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social security in an aging society

Author

Listed:
  • L. Randall Wray

Abstract

Most of the recent claims that Social Security faces major financial challenges in the years ahead rely on the recognition that the US population is aging. Indeed, the coming wave of baby-boomer retirements plays a continuing role in calls for 'reform' of the program. However, the general aging of the population ensures that the problem will not go away even when that generation passes on. This paper focuses on the demographic trends facing the US (and world)—why is the population aging, and how fast? Will this lead to an intolerable burden on future generations of workers? While most of the public discussion focuses on Social Security's long-term finances, what really matters is whether the economy will be able to produce a sufficient quantity of real goods and services to provide for both workers and dependents in, say, the year 2080. If it cannot, then regardless of Social Security's finances, the real living standards of Americans in 2080 will have to be lower than they are today. Any reforms to Social Security made today should focus on increasing the economy's capacity to produce real goods and services, rather than on ensuring positive actuarial balances. It will be demonstrated that projected demographic changes are surprisingly modest, and can be accommodated at a measured pace with fairly small policy reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • L. Randall Wray, 2006. "Social security in an aging society," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 391-411.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:18:y:2006:i:3:p:391-411
    DOI: 10.1080/09538250600797925
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09538250600797925
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09538250600797925?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. David E. Bloom & David Canning, 2004. "Global demographic change : dimensions and economic significance," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Aug, pages 9-56.
    2. Dimitri B. Papadimitriou & L. Randall Wray, "undated". "Does Social Security Need Saving? Providing for Retirees throughout the Twenty-first Century," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_55, Levy Economics Institute.
    3. L. Randall Wray, 1998. "Understanding Modern Money," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1668.
    4. L. Randall Wray, 1998. "Modern Money," Macroeconomics 9810002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    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. repec:zbw:rwirep:0238 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Klaudia Przybysz & Agnieszka Stanimir, 2023. "Measuring Activity—The Picture of Seniors in Poland and Other European Union Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-17, June.
    3. Jopp, Tobias Alexander, 2011. "Old Times, Better Times? German Miners' Knappschaften, Pay-as-you-go Pensions, and Implicit Rates of Return, 1854–1913," Ruhr Economic Papers 238, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    4. Yan Liang, 2011. "Money Manager Capitalism, Financialization and Structural Forces," Chapters, in: Joëlle Leclaire & Tae-Hee Jo & Jane Knodell (ed.), Heterodox Analysis of Financial Crisis and Reform, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Tobias A. Jopp, 2011. "Old Times, Better Times? German Miners’ Knappschaften, Pay-as-you-go Pensions, and Implicit Rates of Return, 1854–1913," Ruhr Economic Papers 0238, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.

    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. Dimitri B. Papadimitriou & Greg Hannsgen & Gennaro Zezza, 2007. "The Effects of a Declining Housing Market on the U.S. Economy," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_506, Levy Economics Institute.
    2. Dimitri B. Papadimitriou & Greg Hannsgen & Gennaro Zezza, 2007. "Cracks in the Foundations of Growth: What Will the Housing Debacle Mean for the U.S. Economy?," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_90, Levy Economics Institute.
    3. Brett Fiebiger & Scott Fullwiler & Stephanie Kelton & L. Randall Wray, 2012. "Modern Monetary Theory: A Debate," Working Papers wp279, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    4. L. Randall Wray, 2013. "The Euro Crisis and the Job Guarantee: A Proposal for Ireland," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Michael J. Murray & Mathew Forstater (ed.), The Job Guarantee, chapter 7, pages 161-177, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. L. Randall Wray, 2012. "Keynes after 75 Years: Rethinking Money as a Public Monopoly," Chapters, in: Thomas Cate (ed.), Keynes’s General Theory, chapter 15, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Pavlina R. Tcherneva, 2012. "Beyond Full Employment: The Employer of Last Resort as an Institution for Change," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_732, Levy Economics Institute.
    7. Hernando Matallana, 2009. "The Struggle Over the Real Wage In the Monetary Production Economy," Documentos CEDE 5271, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    8. Zdravka, Todorova, 2009. "Employer of Last Resort Policy and Feminist Economics: Social Provisioning and Socialization of Investment," MPRA Paper 16240, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Lee, Frederic, 2011. "Heterodox surplus approach: production, prices, and value theory," MPRA Paper 31824, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Georgios Argitis & Stella Michopoulou, 2011. "Are Full Employment and Social Cohesion Possible Under Financialization?," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 139-155, January.
    11. Lawn, Philip, 2011. "Wake up economists! - Currency-issuing central governments have no budget constraint," MPRA Paper 28224, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Stephanie Bell & L. Randall Wray, "undated". "The War on Poverty After 40 Years: A Minskyan Assessment," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_78, Levy Economics Institute.
    13. Botta, Alberto, 2012. "Conflicting Claims in Eurozone? Austerity’s Myopic Logic and the Need of a European federal union in a post-Keynesian Eurozone Center-Periphery Model," MPRA Paper 41700, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Eric Tymoigne, 2006. "An Inquiry into the Nature of Money: An Alternative to the Functional Approach," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_481, Levy Economics Institute.
    15. C. Sardoni & L. Randall Wray, 2007. "Fixed and Flexible Exchange Rates and Currency Sovereignty," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_489, Levy Economics Institute.
    16. John King, 2009. "Social Democratic and Socialist Policies," Working Papers wp191, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    17. L. Randall Wray, 2011. "Lessons We Should Have Learned from the Global Financial Crisis but Didn't," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_681, Levy Economics Institute.
    18. Strachman, Eduardo, 2009. "Implementing inflation targeting in Brazil: an institutional analysis," MPRA Paper 15131, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised May 2009.
    19. L. Wray, 2006. "Keynes's Approach to Money: An Assessment After Seventy Years," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 34(2), pages 183-193, June.
    20. Mathew Forstater, 2002. "“Jobs for all”: Another dream of the rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 45-53, 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:taf:revpoe:v:18:y:2006:i:3:p:391-411. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CRPE20 .

    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.