This chapter reviews the theoretical and empirical issues dealing with Social Security pensions. The first part of the chapter discusses pure pay-as-you-go plans. It considers the effects of introducing such a plan on the present value of consumption, the optimal level of benefits in such plans,...

This volume presents the fourth phase of the project. An analysis and country-by-country comparison of the effects of social security incentives on retirement behavior in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the United States.

This volume presents the third phase of the project. An analysis and country-by-country comparison of the effects of social security incentives on retirement behavior in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the United States.

A program of Personal Retirement Accounts (PRAs) funded by deposits equal to 2.3 percent of earnings (up to the Social Security maximum) would permit retirees to receive more income in retirement than with the current Social Security program while at the same time making it unnecessary to...

While research shows that there are large gains in lifetime wealth from delaying claiming Social Security, most people claim at or before full retirement age. We fielded an original, nationally representative survey to gain insight into people's rationales for their Social Security claiming...

Delaying Social Security claiming is equivalent to buying an annuity, as individuals who delay forgo current benefits in exchange for higher monthly benefits in the future. Despite growing evidence that this annuity is offered on extremely generous terms, the majority of people claim well before...

This is the introduction and summary to the fourth phase of an ongoing project on Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World. The first phase described the retirement incentives inherent in plan provisions and documented the strong relationship across countries between social...