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Structural Reform of Social Security

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Martin Feldstein

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Abstract

Governments around the world have enacted or are currently considering fundamental structural reforms of their Social Security pension programs. The key feature in these reforms is a shift from a pure pay-as-you-go tax-financed system, in which taxes on current workers are primarily distributed to current retirees, to a mixed system that combines pay-as-you-go benefits with investment-based personal retirement accounts. This paper discusses how such a mixed system could work in practice and how the transition to such a change could be achieved. It then analyzes the economic gains that would result from shifting to a mixed system. I turn next to the three problems that critics raise about any investment-based plan: administrative costs, risk, and income distribution. Finally, I comment on some of the ad hoc proposals for dealing with the financial problem of Social Security without shifting to an investment-based system.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 11098.

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Date of creation: Feb 2005
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:11098

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H0 - Public Economics - - General
H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents
H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government

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References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Feldstein, Martin & Liebman, Jeffrey B., 2002. "Social security," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 32, pages 2245-2324 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. David McCarthy & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2003. "International Adverse Selection in Life Insurance and Annuities," NBER Working Papers 9975, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Murphy, Kevin M & Welch, Finis, 1998. "Perspectives on the Social Security Crisis and Proposed Solutions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 142-50, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Gruber, Jon & Saez, Emmanuel, 2002. "The elasticity of taxable income: evidence and implications," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 1-32, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Martin Feldstein & Andrew Samwick, 2001. "Potential Paths of Social Security Reform," NBER Working Papers 8592, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Martin Feldstein & Jeffrey B Liebman, 2002. "The Distributional Effects of an Investment-Based Social Security System," Working Papers 02-08, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
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  1. Michael Kaganovich & Itzhak Zilcha, 2008. "Alternative Social Security Systems and Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  2. Walter H. Fisher & Christian Keuschnigg, 2007. "Pension Reform and Labor Market Incentives," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2007 2007-13, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Yvonne Adema & Lex Meijdam & Harrie A. A Verbon, 2005. "The International Spillover Effects of Pension Reform," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  4. Rojhat B. Avsar, 2008. "Feldstein’s Rhetoric of Private Retirement Accounts," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2008_23, University of Utah, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  5. Jean-Pierre Laffargue, 2005. "Demographic transition, intergenerational transfers and the increase in public and national debts," PSE Working Papers 2005-15, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
  6. Luciano Greco, 2005. "The Optimal Design of Funded Pension Plans: Unbundling Financing and Investment," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0003, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno". [Downloadable!]
  7. Erling Holmøy and Kyrre Stensnes, 2008. "Will the Norwegian pension reform reach its goals? An integrated micro-macro assessment," Discussion Papers 557, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
  8. Heikki Oksanen, 2005. "Actuarial Neutrality across Generations Applied to Public Pensions under Population Ageing: Effects on Government Finances and National Saving," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  9. András Simonovits, 2006. "Social Security Reform in the US: Lessons from Hungary," IEHAS Discussion Papers 0602, Institute of Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, revised 24 Apr 2006. [Downloadable!]
  10. Erling Holmøy, 2007. "Fiscal sustainability: Must the problem be diminished before we can see it?," Discussion Papers 499, Research Department of Statistics Norway. [Downloadable!]
  11. Nicholas Barr & Peter Diamond, 2009. "Reforming Pensions," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Christian Keuschnigg & Mirela Keuschnigg & Christian Jaag, 2009. "Aging and the Financing of Social Security in Switzerland," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2009 2009-26, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen. [Downloadable!]
  13. David S. Gerber & René Weber, 2007. "Aging, Asset Allocation, and Costs: Evidence for the Pension Fund Industry in Switzerland," IMF Working Papers 07/29, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
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