Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

[Review Of The Book Social Security: A Critique Of Radical Proposals], Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] This book consists of six essays on Social Security. Charles Meyer leads off with a survey of the history of Social Security, its funding problems, and a radical reform proposal by Peter Ferrara to phase out the system. The remaining essays address various features of Social Security.

Estimating The Effects Of Changing Social Security Benefit Formulas, Gary S. Fields, Olivia S. Mitchell

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] The U.S. Social Security system faces serious financial difficulties in both the short and the long run. The short-run problem is that the system has very meager financial reserves. In the long run—after the year 2010, when the post-World-War-II baby-boom generation reaches retirement age—the financial problems of Social Security will intensify because of population aging and the consequent decline in the ratio of workers to retirees.

These problems have led to proposed reforms aimed at assuring the financial stability of the system. The question addressed here is: what effects would these reforms have on three variables—retirement ages, retirement incomes, …