The Political Future of Social Security in Aging Societies

The Political Future of Social Security in Aging Societies PDF

Author: Vincenzo Galasso

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 026257246X

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A quantitative analysis of the political sustainability of social security reform in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US, with the suggestion that population aging will lead to more pension spending and that raising the retirement age is the most politically viable reform measure.

The Growing Gap in Life Expectancy by Income

The Growing Gap in Life Expectancy by Income PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2015-09-17

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 030931710X

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The U.S. population is aging. Social Security projections suggest that between 2013 and 2050, the population aged 65 and over will almost double, from 45 million to 86 million. One key driver of population aging is ongoing increases in life expectancy. Average U.S. life expectancy was 67 years for males and 73 years for females five decades ago; the averages are now 76 and 81, respectively. It has long been the case that better-educated, higher-income people enjoy longer life expectancies than less-educated, lower-income people. The causes include early life conditions, behavioral factors (such as nutrition, exercise, and smoking behaviors), stress, and access to health care services, all of which can vary across education and income. Our major entitlement programs - Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Supplemental Security Income - have come to deliver disproportionately larger lifetime benefits to higher-income people because, on average, they are increasingly collecting those benefits over more years than others. This report studies the impact the growing gap in life expectancy has on the present value of lifetime benefits that people with higher or lower earnings will receive from major entitlement programs. The analysis presented in The Growing Gap in Life Expectancy by Income goes beyond an examination of the existing literature by providing the first comprehensive estimates of how lifetime benefits are affected by the changing distribution of life expectancy. The report also explores, from a lifetime benefit perspective, how the growing gap in longevity affects traditional policy analyses of reforms to the nation's leading entitlement programs. This in-depth analysis of the economic impacts of the longevity gap will inform debate and assist decision makers, economists, and researchers.

Public Policy and the Aging

Public Policy and the Aging PDF

Author: William W. Lammers

Publisher: Washington, D.C. : CQ Press

Published: 1983

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13:

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Abstract: Public policy areas that affect the aging in complex ways are examined and assessed for policy analysts and decision makers. The relevant issues caused by shifts in federal and state government roles are considered. The tension between means and incomes for current and future programs affecting the aging, the special problems of older women, the hospice movement, safer environments, the aging as consumers, and the consequences of inflation are all analyzed. Specific topics include policy making factors, social security, employment, retirement and pension policies, health and long-term care policies, including medicaid and medicare, social services, and housing policies. The effects of policies of the 1980s and the future on the US aging population are discussed. Major programs affecting the aging are extensively analyzed and alternatives are considered. A glossary and bibliography are appended. (wz).

Pensions, Politics and the Elderly

Pensions, Politics and the Elderly PDF

Author: Daniel J. B. Mitchell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-09-16

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1315500833

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This is an historical exploration of the US pensioner movements of the late 1920s through to the early 1950s, and the insights they offer policy analysts and researchers on how the forthcoming retirement of the Baby-Boom generation could proceed.

Aging Nation

Aging Nation PDF

Author: James H. Schulz

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2006-10-30

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 0313027455

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With the impending retirement of some 76 million Baby Boomers, understanding the economic, political, and social issues related to the aging population is paramount. If the doom-and-gloomers have their way, the elderly will be put out to pasture, with inadequate health care and financial resources, and a crumbling social welfare system. In Aging Nation, renowed experts in the field, James Schulz and Robert Binstock, agree that there is considerable cause for concern, but with a variety of sound policies and programs in place and smart individual choices, the elderly can prosper, and a demographic tsunami is not inevitable. Drawing from the most current data, the authors provide in-depth analysis of the nation's evolving private and public policies on retirement, faltering employer pensions, health care, workplace conditions, and entitlement programs, and consider such timely issues as poverty among the elderly, rejoining the workforce after retirement, Social Security and health care reform, and the rise of the elderly as a powerful political force. Dispelling popular myths and misconceptions that are perpetrated by politicians and pundits alike, they provide a comprehensive and balanced assessment of the issues and their impact on everyone, old and young. Deserving poor or greedy geezers? The debate rages on. In a period of huge government deficits and the impending retirement of some 76 million Baby Boomers, understanding the economic, political, and social issues related to the aging population is paramount. The policy debates have never been more contentious; they range from deciding who should receive limited subsidized housing and medical services to the ongoing battle over saving Social Security and other entitlement programs. If the doom-and-gloomers have their way, the elderly will be put out to pasture, with inadequate health care and financial resources, and a crumbling social welfare infrastructure that will implode under the strain of intergenerational conflict. This book debunks most aging crises put forth by merchants of doom and offers a new policy focus for our nation. In Aging Nation, renowned experts in the field, James Schulz and Robert Binstock, agree that there is considerable cause for concern, but with a variety of sound policies and programs in place and smart individual choices, the elderly can prosper, and a demographic tsunami is not inevitable. Drawing from the most current data, the authors provide in-depth analysis of the nation's evolving private and public policies on retirement, faltering employer pensions, health care, workplace conditions, and entitlement programs, and consider such timely issues as poverty among the elderly, rejoining the workforce after retirement, Social Security and health care reform, and the rise of the elderly as a powerful political force. Dispelling popular myths and misconceptions that are perpetrated by politicians and pundits alike, they provide a comprehensive and balanced assessment of these issues and their impact on everyone, old and young.

Demography of Aging

Demography of Aging PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1994-02-01

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 0309050855

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As the United States and the rest of the world face the unprecedented challenge of aging populations, this volume draws together for the first time state-of-the-art work from the emerging field of the demography of aging. The nine chapters, written by experts from a variety of disciplines, highlight data sources and research approaches, results, and proposed strategies on a topic with major policy implications for labor forces, economic well-being, health care, and the need for social and family supports.

Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment

Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment PDF

Author: Jeffrey R. Brown

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2009-12-15

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 0226076504

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Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment analyzes the changing economic and demographic environment in which social insurance programs that benefit elderly households will operate. It also explores how these ongoing trends will affect future beneficiaries, under both the current social security program and potential reform options. In this volume, an esteemed group of economists probes the challenge posed to Social Security by an aging population. The researchers examine trends in private sector retirement saving and health care costs, as well as the uncertain nature of future demographic, economic, and social trends—including marriage and divorce rates and female participation in the labor force. Recognizing the ambiguity of the environment in which the Social Security system must operate and evolve, this landmark book explores factors that policymakers must consider in designing policies that are resilient enough to survive in an economically and demographically uncertain society.