Social Security

Social Security and Stock Market Risk
Social Security reform is one of the nation's most prominent domestic policy issues. A common feature of many leading Social Security reform plans is that they would prefund benefits by integrating pe…
How Not to Be Poor
About 31 million Americans live in households with incomes below the poverty level, according to the latest U.S. Census data. Poverty is more than a lack of income. It is also the consequence of speci…
Is Extending Unemployment Benefits A Good Idea?
A desire to relieve suffering can sometimes hurt. Moving an accident victim can worsen his injuries, despite our good intentions. Similarly, a desire to help the unemployed can actually delay their re…
Chile Leads the Way with Individual Unemployment Accounts
Chile was the first country in the western hemisphere to set up a social security system, and the first country in the world to reform it using individual investment accounts.
How to Save Social Security
President Bush's bipartisan Social Security reform commission delivered its final recommendations for repairing Social Security in December 2001.
Social Security Reform Around the World: Lessons from Other Countries

Social Security reform is one of the most prominent domestic policy issues in the United States. The U.S. is not alone in facing the daunting challenges posed by its retirement security program.
African Americans Benefit Most from Personal Retirement Accounts

All Americans would benefit from Social Security reform, but African Americans would benefit the most. African Americans rely more heavily than other demographic groups on Social Security for a secure…
The Economic Cost of the Social Security Payroll Tax

The payroll tax that funds Social Security, Medicare and Disability Insurance, called FICA, is already the largest tax most American families pay. In the future, it will claim an even greater share of…