Policymakers have designed Social Security to be a progressive retirement program that replaces a larger share of monthly earnings for low- and middle-income workers than for high earners. However, previous research has found that, although the Disability Insurance (DI) component of Social...

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) applications and receipts vary greatly by state. This paper investigates the extent to which this geographic variation in SSDI applications reflects differences in health, demographics, and employment characteristics, state policies, and politics. We...

In July and August 2009, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (CRR) conducted a survey to gauge three things: 1) how people were responding to the loss of their retirement assets due to the financial crisis; 2) who was responding by increasing their expected working life; and 3)...

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) applicatons and benefit receipts vary greatly by state, which has led to concerns about potential inconsistencies in the way that states apply disability standards. An earlier brief concluded that more than 70 percent of the variation across states in...

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) applica­tions and benefit receipts vary greatly by state, which has led to concerns about potential inconsistencies in the way that states apply disability standards. This possibility has prompted numerous Congressional hearings and reports, and led...

Low take-up by elderly Americans in most means-tested federal programs is a persistent and puzzling phenomenon. This paper seeks to measure the causal effect of the benefit levels on elderly enrollment in two public assistance programs – the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and...

This study calculates the impact of federal income taxes on the progressivity of the Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) program. It uses the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data linked with the Social Security Earnings Records to estimate OASI contributions and benefits for individuals and...

Understanding the economic characteristics of residents in seniors care communities is important to understanding the demand for these services as well as how individuals are paying for this type of care. It is particularly critical now given the recent steep decline in both the housing and...

A long and still growing strand of the retirement literature examines the role financial incentives play in the timing of the retirement decision. A more recent second strand of work has focused on the role of health shocks in the retirement decision. This paper combines these two components of...

Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we compare actual inheritances received during the period 1994 to 2004 with the amounts that, in 1994, households anticipated receiving within 10 years. We find little evidence of systematic forecasting errors. The factors affecting inheritance...