Journal of Economic Perspectives
ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)
Perspectives from the President's Commission on Social Security Reform
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 17,
no. 2, Spring 2003
(pp. 149–172)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
Recently we were asked to serve on the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security (CSSS) along with 14 other members drawn equally from both major political parties. The Commission's charge was to provide recommendations to modernize the Social Security system, restore its fiscal soundness, and develop a workable system of Personal Retirement Accounts. This paper explains how the Commission arrived at some of its recommendations and the role that economics played in contributing to these recommendations. We describe the key institutional constraints confronting efforts to reform Social Security and how these constraints influenced Commission decisions. We also illustrate how economics research influenced the Commission's analysis of how to structure personal accounts, ways to enhance traditional Social Security program finances, and means of measuring the extent of financial progress achieved through reform.Citation
Cogan, John, F., and Olivia S. Mitchell. 2003. "Perspectives from the President's Commission on Social Security Reform ." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 17 (2): 149–172. DOI: 10.1257/089533003765888485JEL Classification
- H55 Social Security and Public Pensions
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