Related UI Researchers
Publications on Retirees/Seniors
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Securing Social Security: Lessons for the Next Debate (Commentary)This commentary suggests ways of making the upcoming debate on Social Security reform more productive than some past efforts. Participants must be open to a range of solutions, financing must be transparent, and effects on disabled workers must be addressed. Reform efforts must acknowledge the changing economic environment, including increasing wage inequality, and shifting individual and family demographics. Guaranteed inflation-protected benefits are crucial, and the sacrifices necessary to balance the system should be shared across generations
Posted to Web: May 08, 2009 | Publication Date: May 08, 2009 |
Rising Tides and Retirement: The Aggregate and Distributional Effects of Differential Wage Growth on Social Security (Research Report)Recent growth in wage inequality has important implications for Social Security solvency and benefit distributions. Because only earnings below the taxable maximum are subject to payroll taxes, concentrated wage growth among higher earners generates less revenue than more evenly distributed growth. Social Security's progressive benefit formula increases benefit payouts when shares of workers with low wages grow. We use a dynamic microsimulation model to examine aggregate and distributional consequences of alternative scenarios about future wage growth. We find that relatively modest changes in assumptions about wage differentials generate marked changes in projected Social Security benefits, poverty, and long-term financing status.
Posted to Web: April 16, 2009 | Publication Date: April 01, 2009 |
The Impact of Changing Earnings Volatility on Retirement Wealth (Research Report)Over the past several decades, the volatility of family income has increased markedly, and own earnings volatility has remained relatively flat. Volatility may affect retirement wealth, depending on whether volatility affects accrued pension contributions or withdrawals or earnings credited toward future Social Security benefits. This project assesses the effect of the volatility of individual and family earnings on asset accumulation and projected retirement wealth using survey data matched to administrative earnings records.
Posted to Web: April 16, 2009 | Publication Date: April 01, 2009 |
First Tuesday: Preventing Veteran Homelessness (Audio Podcasts / First Tuesdays)Nearly 154,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Another half million are at risk of homelessness because rent consumes more than half their income. In his run for the White House, President Obama pledged to deliver on a zero-tolerance policy for veteran homelessness. But for low-income veterans who fall in between homelessness and homeownership, there is little to help them afford rental housing. That lack of affordable housing, research shows, is the primary driver of homelessness for veterans and civilians alike.
Posted to Web: April 07, 2009 | Publication Date: April 07, 2009 |
Health Reform in the 21st Century: Reforming the Health Care Delivery System: Before the United States House Committee on Ways and Means (Testimony)Medicare and other insurers generally ignore the importance of established chronic illnesses in generating demands on the health care system and escalating costs, Institute Fellow Robert Berenson told the House Ways and Means Committee. At the same time, delivery system reforms are likely to fail unless immediate steps are taken to address the likely collapse of the primary care physician workforce in many parts of the country. He also underscored the need for a public plan -- patterned on Medicare but separate from it -- as an option for those seeking care.
Posted to Web: April 01, 2009 | Publication Date: April 01, 2009 |