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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Dueling Realisms, Stephen Brooks
The Economics Of Prefunding Social Security And Medicare Benefits, Martin Feldstein, Andrew Samwick
The Economics Of Prefunding Social Security And Medicare Benefits, Martin Feldstein, Andrew Samwick
Dartmouth Scholarship
This paper presents a detailed analysis of the economics of prefunding benefits for the aged, focusing on social security but indicating some of the analogous magnitudes for prefunding Medicare benefits. We use detailed census and social security information to model the transition to a fully funded system based on mandatory contributions to individual accounts. The funded system that we examine would permanently maintain the level of benefits now specified in current law and would require no new government borrowing (other than eventually selling the bonds that are officially in the social security trust fund). During the transition, the combined rate …