Synopses & Reviews
Many of us suspect that Social Security faces eventual bankruptcy. But the government projects its future finances using long outdated methods. Employing a more up-to-date approach, Jagadeesh Gokhale here argues that the program faces insolvency far sooner than previously thought.
To assess Social Securityand#8217;s fate more accurately under current and alternative policies, Gokhale constructs a detailed simulation of the forces shaping American demographics and the economy to project their future evolution. He then uses this simulation to analyze six prominent Social Security reform packagesand#8212;two liberal, two centrist, and two conservativeand#8212;to demonstrate how far they would restore the programand#8217;s financial health and which population groups would be helped or hurt in the process.
Arguments over Social Security have raged for decades, but they have taken place in a relative informational vacuum; Social Security provides the necessary bedrock of analysis that will prove vital for anyone with a stake in this important debate.
Review
andldquo;Let there be no mistakeandmdash;despite the urgency of the recent financial crisis and recessionandmdash;the most daunting economic challenge facing our nation remains that of reducing the enormous deficits facing the United States as a result of our entitlement programs. In
Social Security, Jagadeesh Gokhale provides a rigorous analysis of options for reforming this important program. His analysis serves both as a andlsquo;call-to-actionandrsquo; for our nation to take on this problem head-on and as a useful analytical framework for understanding how reform would work. Policy makers should not only read this book, they should act on it.andrdquo;
Review
and#8220;Jagadeesh Gokhale once again pushes the state of the art in Social Security analysis, warning us that the largest federal spending program is in far worse financial condition than commonly supposed. Gokhale builds his analysis of Social Security from the ground up, in the process showing how more limited approaches used by government agencies donand#8217;t tell the full story. Gokhaleand#8217;s analysis of Social Security is both technically first-rate and accessibly written, and it should serve as a warning to policymakers and the public not to delay in addressing this important issue.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;
Social Security is innovative, interesting, and important. Gokhale delivers on the promise in the title, providing a new appraisal of a variety of plans to reform Social Security that will appeal to a wide range of readers, including policy makers in Congress and the White House and economists concerned with retirement income.and#8221;
About the Author
Jagadeesh Gokhale is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, coauthor of Fiscal and Generational Imbalances: New Budget Measures for New Budget Priorities, and a member of the Social Security Advisory Board.
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
I. Issues in Evaluating Social Securityand#8217;s Finances
Chapter 1. The Simmering Social Security Reform Debate
Chapter 2. Simulating U.S. Demographics and Economics: Beginning in 1970
chapter 3. Forward Motion: Demographic Transition, 1971and#8211;2006
Appendix 3.1. Mortality Rate Calculations
Appendix 3.2. Estimating Fertility Rates by Female Race, Age, and Education
Appendix 3.3. Marriage and Divorce
Appendix 3.4. Labor Force Status Transitions
Appendix 3.5. Calibration of Immigrantsand#8217; Characteristics
Chapter 4. Peering into the Future
Chapter 5. A Framework for Simulating Annual Nominal Earnings
Appendix 5.1. Method for Simulating "Effective Labor Inputs"
Appendix 5.2. Simulating Workersand#8217; "Effective Labor Inputs" in 1970
Appendix 5.3. Regression for Simulating Life-Cycle "Core Labor Input" Trajectories
Chapter 6. Simulating Social Securityand#8217;s Finances
Appendix 6.1. The Social Security Tax and Benefit Calculator
Chapter 7. Micromeasures of Social Securityand#8217;s Financial Condition
II. Issues in Evaluating Social Security Reform Proposals
Chapter 8. Liberal Proposal 1 by Robert M. Ball: "A Golden Opportunity for the New Congress"
Appendix 8.1. Estate Tax Revenue Projections for the Robert M. Ball Reform Proposal
Chapter 9. Liberal Proposal 2 by Peter A. Diamond and Peter R. Orszag: "A Balanced Approach"
Appendix 9.1. Incorporating Diamond-Orszag Reform Elements into DEMSIM
Chapter 10. Centrist Proposal 1 by Representatives Jim Kolbe, Charles Stenholm, and Allen Boyd: "Bipartisan Retirement Security Act"
Chapter 11. Centrist Proposal 2 by Jeffrey Liebman, Maya MacGuineas, and Andrew Samwick: "A Nonpartisan
Approach to Reforming Social Security"
Chapter 12. Conservative Proposal 1 by the President G. W. Bush Commission to Strengthen Social Security: Model 2
Appendix 12.1. Benefit Offset Calculation under G. W. Bush Commission Model 2
Chapter 13. Conservative Proposal 2 by Representative Paul Ryan: "Social Security Personal Savings Guarantee and Prosperity Act"
Appendix 13.1. Progressive CPI Indexing Social Security Benefits under the Ryan Reform Proposal
Chapter 14. Key Conclusions about Social Securityand#8217;s Financial
Condition and Reform Alternatives
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Index