As an economist with a PhD from the University of Chicago, I have focused my research on fixing Social Security and pension policy. I have researched and written about these issues for the U.S. and other countries around the world, as well as consulting on these issues in a number of countries. My career has included working at policy research offices in the Social Security Administration the Department of Labor (pensions), the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland, AARP, and heading the Pension Policy Center.
I wrote...
Sustaining Social Security in an Era of Population Aging
This book analyzes the financial position of Social Security, presents a plan for fixing it, and argues against diverting Social Security revenue into individual accounts.
Its proposal preserves the value of Social Security in providing a basic level of benefits; it increases the value of benefits for particular low-income groups such as workers who have long careers at low pay, and widows and widowers with low benefits; and it eliminates Social Security’s long-term deficit.
While everyone agrees that Social Security is a vital and necessary government program, there have been widely divergent plans for reforming it. Peter A. Diamond and Peter R. Orszag, two of the nation's foremost economists, propose a reform plan that would rescue the program both from its projected financial problems and from those who would destroy the program in order to save it. vi ng Social Security's's strategy balances benefit and revenue adjustments, following the precedent set by the last major Social Security reform in the early 1980s. The authors' proposal restores long-term balance and sustainable solvency to the…
Even if Social Security were solvent, argue the authors, Social Security needs reform because health, life spans, work, and migration patterns are changing.
It lays out principles on which to base reform. For instance, concerning horizontal equity for people at a point in time at the same income level, the lifetime earnings formula tries to provide equal net benefits relative to taxes, for those with equal lifetime earnings. The spousal and survivor benefit, on the other hand, violates horizontal equity on a wide range of fronts.
Even if solvent, Social Security needs reform because health, life spans, work, and migration patterns are changing, the authors argue. They develop a blueprint that identifies "right" reforms--those that achieve fiscal balance and increase Social Security's responsiveness to today's and tomorrow's needs.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the Social Security system, covering its historical origins, legislative changes, and future prospects.
It describes the history of the development of Social Security from its conceptual origins in the Roosevelt Administration. It explores the economic and demographic factors influencing the program and proposes policy options to ensure its sustainability. It argues in favor of adding funded individual accounts as part of Social Security.
Will the Social Security system founder as millions of baby boomers enter their retirement years? Is the frightening vision of an impoverished old age a glimpse into the real future for Americans of the next generation? The authors of this book put debates about Social Security reform into historical perspective, consider various reform ideas, and elaborate a proposal to ensure that the system can continue to meet the claims of the retired and the disabled. Sylvester J. Schieber and John B. Shoven, leading experts on retirement issues, set forth a carefully considered plan to change the way we finance Social…
This book takes a broader perspective and analyzes social security policy around the world.
It surveys the social security programs in each of the major areas of the world. It argues for social security pensions based on social insurance rather than on funded individual accounts. It also discusses other issues of importance in some countries, such as contribution evasion. It proposes ways of extending Social Security coverage to more workers.
There also are Japanese and Spanish editions of this book. Including the three editions, this book is one of the most widely cited in this field.
This is a valuable reference for anyone concerned with reforming or establishing pension programs and for those looking to understand the practicalities and structure behind various pension schemes. By providing a balanced assessment and factual review of what various countries around the world have done, this book assists decision-makers in forming effective, viable pension policy. Discussing not only the current situation in pension schemes, the book also considers the analytical, social, and economic consequences which arise from different pension structures. In what sometimes is a heated debate, this study avoids taking sides, but instead illustrates what has worked and not…
This book is a thoughtful approach to Social Security reform from a conservative perspective.
Arguing that an equitable Social Security solution is unattainable unless stakeholders have a common understanding of the facts, this book presents some often misunderstood, basic factual background about Social Security. It discusses how Social Security affects program participants and explains the demographic, economic, and political factors that threaten its future.
Drawing on more than fifteen years of work on Social Security policy, first in the U.S. Senate and later in the White House, Chuck Blahous argues that our national Social Security debate is more polarized than it needs to be, even given the depth of legitimate differences over the program's appropriate future direction. Unless we identify and understand our respective initial assumptions, he explains, we will not be able to fathom the conflicting policy initiatives that they drive. In Social Security: The Unfinished Work he presents some often misunderstood, basic factual background about Social Security. He discusses how it affects…
My core value is realistic education—learning from each other’s errors and successes, but with full awareness of the difference between the determined past and the uncertain future. We can benefit from uncertainty, which I’ve been doing for a living as an engineer, academic researcher, and inventor. I make use of knowledge and science as much as possible, but I also know that strategic decisions for the uncertain future require skepticism and thinking to deal with the differences in a new circumstance. With my core value, I am passionate about sharing insights and knowledge that our formal education does not provide.
Everything in nature evolves by trial, error, and success—from fundamental physics, through evolution in biology, to how people learn, think, and decide.
This book presents a way of thinking and realistic knowledge that our formal education shuns. Stepping beyond this ignorance, the book shows how to deal with and even benefit from uncertainty by skeptical thinking, strategic decisions, and teamwork based on enlightened self-interests.
This bottom-up thinking is thought-provoking for leaders who wish to build teams rather than herds. The insights in the book will help you to be better prepared for the unexpected, less likely to conform when you…
Trial, Error, and Success: 10 Insights into Realistic Knowledge, Thinking, and Emotional Intelligence
Everything in nature evolves by trial, error, and success. They didn't teach you this in school, even though you should know why the rigid laws of physics don't rule nature and don't inhibit your free-will decisions to try, fail, and succeed. As a guide to success, this book shows how skepticism, prudent use of science, and thinking lead to strategic decisions for the uncertain future.
Presenting real-life examples, the thinking in the book combines sharp analyses with broad analogies to show:
How to identify realistic knowledge and avoid harm due to overgeneralized concepts.
How to create new knowledge and solve…
This book focuses on policies to fix the U.S. Social Security system as it faces continued population aging. It shows why the current benefit formula is not sustainable with population aging, and what can be done to fix it. It shows how the aging of the population acts as a “shadow price, ” raising the cost of providing benefits and making it more expensive to raise benefits. It discusses other issues related to increasing longevity, such as raising the benefit eligibility age as people live longer. It addresses problems with the reform process, which tend to lead to reforms at the last moment. It proposes changes to the reform process to address that issue.
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