Should Social Security Benefits Be Means Tested?

Martin Feldstein

Journal of Political Economy, 1987, vol. 95, issue 3, 468-84

Abstract: Social-security retirement benefits distort the saving decisions of workers who are rational enough to save for their future. Since the implicit rate of return in an unfunded social-security program is less than the marginal product of capital, the resulting decline in saving causes a welfare loss. The present paper examines the conditions under which the welfare loss can be reduced by replacing the current universal social-security program with a means-tested program that pays benefits only to those individuals with little or no other retirement income or assets. Copyright 1987 by University of Chicago Press.

Date: 1987
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