Seesaws and Social Security Benefits Indexing

Matthew Weinzierl ()

No 20671, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The price indexation of Social Security benefit payments has emerged in recent years as a flashpoint of debate in the United States. I characterize the direct effects that changes in that price index would have on retirees who differ in their initial wealth at retirement and mortality rates after retirement. I propose a simple but flexible theoretical framework that converts benefits reform first into changes to retirees' consumption paths and then into a net effect on social welfare. I calibrate that framework using recently-produced data on Social Security beneficiaries by lifetime income decile and both existing and new survey evidence on the normative priorities Americans have for Social Security. The results suggest that the value retirees place on protection against longevity risk is an important caveat to the widespread enthusiasm for a switch to a slower-growing price index such as the chained CPI-U.

JEL-codes: E31 H55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age, nep-mac and nep-pub
Note: PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published as Matthew Weinzierl, 2014. "Seesaws and Social Security Benefits Indexing," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Fall: 137-182.

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Journal Article: Seesaws and Social Security Benefits Indexing (2014)
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