The Distributional Aspects of Social Security and Social Security Reform (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report) - Hardcover

Martin Feldstein is the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University, president and CEO of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers for President Reagan. He is the author and editor of many books, including International Capital Flows and Privatizing Social Security, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

Jeffrey B. Liebman is an associate professor of public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and is a faculty research fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He previously served as special assistant to President Clinton for economic policy and coordinated the administration's social security reform working group.

Social security is one of the largest and one of the most popular programs administered by the United States government. It is also under significant pressure to reform: given projected increases in both individual life expectancy and the sheer number of retirees, the current system faces the possibility of an eventual overload. Alternative proposals have emerged, ranging from reductions in future benefits to a rise in tax revenue to various forms of investment-based personal retirement accounts.

As this volume suggests, the distributional consequences of these proposals are substantially different, and may disproportionately affect those groups who depend on social security to avoid poverty in old age. Together, these studies persuasively demonstrate that appropriately designed investment-based social-security reforms could effectively reduce the long-term burden of an aging society on future taxpayers, increase the expected future income of retirees, and mitigate poverty rates among the elderly.