Several policy makers have voiced concern, bordering on alarm, over federal budget deficits and growing federal debt over the past decade and have advocated changes in spending and revenue policies to address their concerns. This study examines the redistributive effect of various federal tax...

The Social Security Trustees project that the Social Security program faces longterm financing difficulties. Several proposals that have been offered to shore-up the finances of the Social Security program would create individual retirement accounts funded with part of the payroll tax. The...

When it comes to retirement income policy, there is a general perception that workers have full 40-year working careers before retiring. Further, it is generally assumed that workers with low lifetime earnings have low earnings in each year during a normal working career. The basic research...

This study examines income dynamics during individuals' first 12 years of retirement. Two questions are asked: (1) Are the economic experiences of the elderly in the United States unique, or are they similar to those of the elderly in Germany? and (2) What is the role of Social Security in...

This paper focuses on the persistence of hardship from middle age to old age. Proposed status maintenance models suggest that stratification of economic status occurs over the life course (e.g., little mobility is seen within the income distribution). Some studies have found evidence to support...

Two issues may have a tremendous impact on the adequacy of retirement income for today's workers: the growth of 401(k) pension plans and the possible privatization of Social Security. Workers are becoming increasingly responsible for the adequacy of their retirement income by determining how...

The U.S. net national saving rate reached a postwar peak of 12.3 percent in 1965 and has since trended downward to 1.2 percent in 2007. Consequently, many analysts claim that saving is too low. Since 1983, the Social Security program has been in surplus, and the trust funds have been building up...

This study examines income mobility and income inequality in the 1980s and 1990s. The results show that income mobility in the 1980s differed from mobility in the 1990s. Positional mobility was lower in the 1990s than in the 1980s, but income changes were more extensive in the 1990s than in the...

In 1992, federal, state, and local governments spent almost $1.3 trillion for social welfare programs. This paper examines program participation and the anti-poverty effectiveness of nine selected social welfare programs. The results suggest that the benefits from these programs are fairly well...