Prospects for Social Security Reform

Prospects for Social Security Reform PDF

Author: Olivia S. Mitchell

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 1999-01-29

Total Pages: 446

ISBN-13: 9780812234794

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The United States social security system is the nation's largest social insurance program. As such, it has a far-reaching impact throughout the economy, influencing not only old-age economic security but also many behaviors, including corporate employment policy, retirement patterns, and personal saving. In the past, the system's universal coverage and generous benefits ensured popular support to a degree enjoyed by no other form of "big government" social spending. Yet over two-thirds of all Americans today believe that the social security system will face bankruptcy by the time they retire. The question of social security reform—how to reform the system or whether the system needs reform at all—is the subject of heated debate at all levels of government, in the media, and among workers, pensioners, and employers. Prospects for Social Security Reform informs the debate by exploring why the system is at a crossroads today and what to do about it. Contributors detail the size and nature of the problem, explain views of key "stakeholders" regarding reform options, and report new evidence on how reform might affect the economy. Research findings and public opinion polls are analyzed, as are lessons from other countries experimenting with new ways to deliver old-age benefit promises. No other volume includes as diverse and expert a set of perspectives on reform and privatization as those gathered here from economists, actuaries, employers, investment managers, and representatives of organized labor. Among its chapters is the path-breaking study "Social Security Money's Worth," the 1999 winner of the TIAA-CREF's Paul A. Samuelson Award for Outstanding Scholarly Writing on Lifelong Financial Security.

Retirement Income

Retirement Income PDF

Author: Christian E. Weller

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 76

ISBN-13:

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Examines social security benefits within the context of other retirement savings programme.

The People's Pension

The People's Pension PDF

Author: Eric Laursen

Publisher: AK Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 834

ISBN-13: 1849351015

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Explores the potential benefits of a government-independent, democratized Social Security system to support dependents suffering from the reduction of other government benefits.

Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World

Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World PDF

Author: Axel Börsch-Supan

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2021-03-05

Total Pages: 481

ISBN-13: 022667424X

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This ninth phase of the International Social Security project, which studies the experiences of twelve developed countries, examines the effects of public pension reform on employment at older ages. In the past two decades, men’s labor force participation at older ages has increased, reversing a long-term pattern of decline; participation rates for older women have increased dramatically as well. While better health, more education, and changes in labor-supply behavior of married couples may have affected this trend, these factors alone cannot explain the magnitude of the employment increase or its large variation across countries. The studies in this volume explore how financial incentives to work at older ages have evolved as a result of public pension reforms since 1980 and how these changes have affected retirement behavior. Utilizing a common template to analyze the developments across countries, the findings suggest that social security reforms have strengthened the financial returns to working at older ages and that these enhanced financial incentives have contributed to the rise in late-life employment.

Social Security Pension Reform in Europe

Social Security Pension Reform in Europe PDF

Author: Martin Feldstein

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2009-02-15

Total Pages: 515

ISBN-13: 0226241912

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Social Security in the United States and in Europe is at a critical juncture. Through the essays assembled in Social Security Pension Reform in Europe, Martin Feldstein and Horst Siebert, along with a number of distinguished contributors, discuss the challenges facing Social Security reform in the aging societies of Europe. A remarkable range of European nations—Germany, France, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Hungary—have implemented or are about to implement mixed Social Security systems that combine a traditional defined benefit of the pay-as-you-go system with an individual retirement account defined contribution of a capital-funded system. The essays here highlight the problems that the European pension reform process faces and how it differs from that of the United States. This timely volume will significantly enrich the debate on pension reform worldwide.

Privatizing Pensions

Privatizing Pensions PDF

Author: Mitchell A. Orenstein

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2008-08-11

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1400837669

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To what extent do international organizations, global policy networks, and transnational policy entrepreneurs influence domestic policy makers? Have we entered a new phase of globalization that, unbeknownst to most citizens, shapes policies that used to be the sole domain of domestic politics? Privatizing Pensions reveals how international institutions--such as the World Bank, USAID, and other transnational policy actors--have played a seminal role in the development, diffusion, and implementation of new pension reforms that are transforming the postwar social contract in more than thirty countries worldwide, including the United States. Mitchell Orenstein shows how transnational actors have driven change in a policy area once thought to be beyond reform in many countries, and how they have done so by deploying their unique resources and legitimacy to promote new ideas, recruit disciples worldwide, and provide a broad range of technical assistance to government reformers over the long term. He demonstrates that while domestic decision makers may retain veto power over these reforms--which replace traditional social security with individual pension savings accounts--transnational policy makers play the role of "proposal actors," shaping the information, preferences, and resources of their domestic clients. Privatizing Pensions argues that even the most quintessentially domestic areas of policy have been thoroughly globalized, and that these international influences must be better understood.

Social Security Pensions

Social Security Pensions PDF

Author: C. Gillion

Publisher: International Labor Office

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 808

ISBN-13:

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By providing a balanced assessment and factual review of the praticalities and structure behind various pension schemes around the world, this book assists decision-makers in forming effective, viable pension policy.

Social Security, Medicare, and Government Pensions

Social Security, Medicare, and Government Pensions PDF

Author: J. L. Matthews

Publisher: NOLO

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 9780873377201

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An essential tool for everyone over 55, this indispensable guide helps readers to cut through the red tape and explains, in plain English: * Social Security retirement and disability benefits* Supplemental Security income* Civil Service retirement benefits* Medicare, Medicaid and Medigap insurance* veterans benefitsand much more.Completely updated with the latest rulings and figures, the book helps readers find, analyze and use the Web to learn about all their retirement income options. Also discusses dozens of websites - both the good and the bad - and new information about Medicare HMOs.