2000
UM00-11: Modeling the Macroeconomic Implications of Social Security Reform
Two models dominate the economics literature on why people save (and hence on why they accumulate wealth). In one, the life–cycle model, people save when they are young in order to have funds to support their retirement. In the other,…
UM00-12: Disability Benefits as Social Insurance: Valuing Changes in DI Benefit Generosity
The empirical literature on DI has primarily focused on the impact of program parameters on caseload growth or reduced labor force attachment. The focus on the efficiency costs of DI provides a misleading view of the social desirability of the…
UM00-13: Disability Benefits as Social Insurance: Tradeoffs between Screening Stringency and Benefit Generosity in Optimal Program Design
The Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) system is designed to provide income security to workers in the event that health problems prevent them from working. In order to qualify for benefits, applicants must pass a medical screening that is intended…
UM00-D1: Dissertation Research: Wealth Shocks and Retirement Timing
This study explores whether the timing of retirement responds to unexpected changes in wealth. Although the normality of leisure is a standard assumption in economic models, econometric support for it has not been consistent. The period of the 1990s allows…
1999
UM99-01: Assessing the Impact of Changes in the Early Social Security Retirement Age
This study evaluates potential responses to reductions in early Social Security retirement benefits. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked to administrative records, we find that Social Security coverage is quite uneven in the older population: one-quarter of respondents…
UM99-02: Social Security Acceptance, Pension Acceptance, Retirement Dynamics and Wealth Accumulation
This study analyzes the relationship between retirement and wealth. In a simple model where the only heterogeneity is in leisure preference, other things the same, those who retire early accumulate more wealth while still working, enabling them to support themselves…
UM99-03: Tracking the Income of Individuals Applying for Disability Insurance
Using panel data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation linked to Social Security Administration disability determination records we trace the pattern of household income and the sources of that income from 38 months prior to 39 months following…
UM99-04: Redistribution under the Social Security Benefit Formula Based on Intermittent Work History Versus Low Wage Rates
This study uses earnings histories from the Social Security Administration, linked to the survey responses for participants in the Health and Retirement Study, to investigate redistribution under the current social security benefit formula. As advertised, own benefits are significantly redistributed…
UM99-05: The Impact of Widowhood on the Economic Status of Women
We analyzed the economic consequences of a husband’s death using events that occurred between the first two waves of the HRS and AHEAD studies. We compared poverty transitions against published results from Social Security’s Retirement History Survey of the 1970s.…
UM99-06: Spouse and Survivor Benefits: Use Rates with Earnings Related Marriage, Divorce and Assortative Mating
Social Security benefits depend on the employment and earnings history of the covered worker, but, especially for women, they depend on one’s marital history and the employment and earnings history of one’s spouse. This study examines the interrelationship between marriage,…