Irena Dushi
Economist, Division of Policy Evaluation, Social Security Administration
Irena Dushi is an Economist at the Social Security Administration, Office of Retirement and Disability Policy, Office of Research, Evaluation and Statistics. Prior to joining the SSA, she was a research analyst at the International Longevity Center. She earned her Ph.D. in economics from the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education (CERGE) in Prague (Czech Republic) in 1998, funded by the Soros Foundation. Dr. Dushi is a labor economist with research interests in the economics of aging, pensions, and health insurance. Her work has been supported by the U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Boston College’s Steven H. Sandell Grant Program for Junior Scholars in Retirement Research, University of Michigan’s Economic Research Initiative on the Uninsured (ERIU), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Care Financing and Organization (HCF) Initiative, and the Social Security Administration through a grant to the Michigan Retirement Research Consortium. Her current work focuses on pension coverage, individual retirement accounts, and the impact of aggregate mortality risk on defined benefit pension plans.