Publications -- Social Security
Jun 04, 2004 |
BA #476 – Social Security & Medicare Forecast: 2004The 2004 annual reports for Social Security and Medicare examine the short- and long-term health of these programs, and highlight the financial burdens they will create for future generations. If not reformed in a timely and responsible way, Social Security and Medicare will consume an ever-increasing portion of workers' incomes or the government must break its promises to future retirees. |
Apr 08, 2004 |
BA #471 – Deficits and TaxesThe president's budget for fiscal year 2005, which starts October 1, 2004, projects that the deficit will be cut in half as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2010. After record deficits of $375 billion in 2002 and $520 billion in 2003, the deficit is projected to slowly decline. In 2009, however, the shortfall will still be $237 billion. [See Figure I.] And a number of factors will make even that modest goal difficult to meet. |
Mar 23, 2004 |
BA #470 – Eliminating the Social Security Payroll Cap: A Bad IdeaMost proposals to address Social Security's looming insolvency would integrate a private investment component into the current system, allowing younger workers to fund part of their own future benefits by investing a portion of their Social Security taxes today. |
Feb 19, 2004 |
BA #466 – Social Security, Women and Working FamiliesSocial Security is a product of the 1930s. The United States has changed significantly over the past six decades, but Social Security remains much the same. It is out-of-date and in dire need of reform, especially with respect to benefits for married couples. |
Nov 04, 2003 |
ST #264 – The Impact of Social Security Reform on Women in Three CountriesThis paper analyzes the differential impact on the two genders of pension reforms in Chile, Argentina and Mexico, which have adopted systems in which social security benefits are primarily financed by mandatory savings in individual accounts. |
Oct 30, 2003 |
The Developed World's Demographic TransitionThis bleak assessment of developed economies' future fiscal prospects ignores two factors that are increasingly raised as possible sources of economic salvation. The first is the macroeconomic impact of aging, specifically the potential for capital deepening. The second is the option to dramatically increase immigration. |
Oct 30, 2003 |
ST #263 – How Large Is the Federal Government's Debt?Social Security and Medicare have made future promises far in excess of tax revenues that will be collected at current tax rates. The difference between what has been promised to current and future generations and what will be collected from taxes dedicated to fund these programs is an "unfunded liability." |
Jun 04, 2003 |
BA #443 – The Federal Thrift Savings Plan: A Model for Social Security ReformIn just 15 years, workers' Social Security payroll taxes will fall short of what is needed to pay promised benefits, and the system will require increasing cash transfers from general revenues. One way to begin alleviating the shortfall is to allow workers to set. |
May 14, 2003 |
ST #260 – Does It Pay Both Spouses to Work?Social Security was created in an era in which the typical household consisted of a working husband and a stay-at-home wife. The structure of Social Security rewards that type of arrangement and penalizes two-earner households. |
Apr 22, 2003 |
BA #436 – Social Security & Medicare Forecast: 2003The 2003 annual reports for Social Security and Medicare highlight the financial burdens these programs will create for future generations. If they are not reformed in a timely and responsible way, Social Security and Medicare will consume an ever-increasing portion of workers' incomes as the government seeks to keep its promises to future retirees. |