IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v37y1978i4p397-411.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Long Run Problem of Financing the Social Security System

Author

Listed:
  • Steven R. Cox
  • Philip R. Wooten

Abstract

. The Social Security Amendments of 1972 radically altered the Social Security System (SSS) by including, among other things, provisions whereby the taxable wage base would thereafter rise with increases in the average U.S. wage level and benefits would rise with increases in the Consumer Price Index. These provisions, in fact, have so affected the magnitude of present and potential future social security benefit payments that today, in spite of the restoration of short‐run financial viability, the very financial solvency of the system over the long run is at issue. In an attempt to understand this financial solvency problem, three questions are examined: 1) how are social security benefits calculated today; 2) how have the underlying principles of the SSS changed recently; and 3) what does the future of the SSS look like? The results of that examination leave little doubt that the SSS must again be changed significantly if its long run financial solvency is to be restored, but President Carter's recent recommendations for change appear to be only a temporary solution to a long run problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven R. Cox & Philip R. Wooten, 1978. "The Long Run Problem of Financing the Social Security System," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 397-411, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:37:y:1978:i:4:p:397-411
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1978.tb01243.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.1978.tb01243.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1536-7150.1978.tb01243.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:37:y:1978:i:4:p:397-411. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0002-9246 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.