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Income Maintenance in Old Age: What Can be Learned from Cross-National Comparisons

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  • Timothy Smeeding
  • James Williamson

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review the recent evidence on the antipoverty effectiveness and other characteristics of income maintenance systems for the elderly in the rich nations of the world. As we move toward Social Security reform in the United States, we do so knowing that a comparatively high fraction of our older population experience, income poverty compared to their counterparts in other nations. Strategies to reduce the future Social Security deficit need to take into account the way that program changes affect poverty and benefit adequacy as well as fiscal soundness. Other nations offer approaches which would help us to achieve lower poverty rates while also providing fiscally responsible solutions to the future public costs of an aging society through reforms to the Social Security system.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy Smeeding & James Williamson, 2001. "Income Maintenance in Old Age: What Can be Learned from Cross-National Comparisons," LIS Working papers 263, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:lis:liswps:263
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    Cited by:

    1. Maria Evandrou & Jane Falkingham & Tom Sefton, 2009. "Women’s family histories and incomes in later life in the UK, US and West Germany," CASE Papers case138, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    2. Kee-Lee Chou & Siu-Yau Lee, 2018. "Superimpose Material Deprivation Study on Poverty Old Age People in Hong Kong Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 1015-1036, October.
    3. Philippe Jacques & Marie-Louise Leroux & Dalibor Stevanovic, 2021. "Poverty among the elderly: the role of public pension systems," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(1), pages 24-67, February.
    4. Edward Whitehouse & Richard Disney, 2002. "The Economic Well-Being of Older People in International Perspective: A Critical Review," LIS Working papers 306, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    5. Armando Barrientos, 2002. "Old age, poverty and social investment," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(8), pages 1133-1141.
    6. Kees Goudswaard & Olaf van Vliet & Jim Been & Koen Caminada, 2012. "Pensions and Income Inequality in Old Age," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 10(04), pages 21-26, December.
    7. Siu-Yau Lee & Kee-Lee Chou, 2016. "Trends in Elderly Poverty in Hong Kong: A Decomposition Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 551-564, November.
    8. James Williamson & Timothy Smeeding, 2004. "Sliding into Poverty? Cross-National Patterns of Income Source Change and Income Decay in Old Age," LIS Working papers 388, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    9. Gries Thomas & Jungblut Stefan & Meyer Henning & Krieger Tim, 2019. "Economic Retirement Age and Lifelong Learning: A Theoretical Model With Heterogeneous Labor, Biased Technical Change and International Sourcing," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 129-170, May.
    10. Evandrou, Maria & Falkingham, Jane & Sefton, Tom, 2009. "The relationship between women’s work histories and incomes in later life in the UK, US and West Germany," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 43863, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Evandrou, Maria & Falkingham, Jane & Sefton, Tom, 2009. "The relationship between women's work histories and incomes in later life in the UK, US and West Germany," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28243, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. repec:dau:papers:123456789/11143 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Maria Evandrou & Jane Falkingham & Tom Sefton, 2009. "The relationship between women’s work histories and incomes in later life in the UK, US and West Germany," CASE Papers case137, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    14. Felix Büchel & Joachim R. Frick & Asghar Zaidi, 2004. "Income Mobility in Old Age in Britain and Germany," CASE Papers 089, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    15. repec:ces:ifodic:v:10:y:2012:i:4:p:19074538 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Thomas Gries & Stefan Jungblut & Tim Krieger & Henning Meier, 2009. "Statutory Retirement Age and Lifelong Learning," Working Papers CIE 9, Paderborn University, CIE Center for International Economics.
    17. Evandrou, Maria & Falkingham, Jane & Sefton, Tom, 2009. "Women's family histories and incomes in later life in the UK, US and West Germany," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 43864, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Unnikrishnan, Vidhya & Imai, Katsushi S., 2020. "Does the old-age pension scheme improve household welfare? Evidence from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    19. Long Mo & Jacques Légaré & Leroy Stone, 2006. "The Diversification and the Privatization of the Sources of Retirement Income in Canada," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 159, McMaster University.
    20. Kees Goudswaard & Olaf van Vliet & Jim Been & Koen Caminada, 2012. "Pensions and Income Inequality in Old Age," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 10(4), pages 21-26, December.
    21. Evandrou, Maria & Falkingham, Jane & Sefton, Tom, 2009. "Women's family histories and incomes in later life in the UK, US and West Germany," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 28242, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    22. Robert Brown & Steven Prus, 2003. "Social Transfers and Income Inequality in Old-age: A Multi-national Perspective?," LIS Working papers 355, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    23. Syam Prasad, 2011. "Deprevation and vulnerability among elderly in India," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2011-013, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    24. Van Vliet, Olaf & Been, Jim & Caminada, Koen & Goudswaard, Kees, 2011. "Pension reform and income inequality among the elderly in 15 European countries," MPRA Paper 32940, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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