This study examines Social Security claiming behavior, which has important implications for older Americans and for the system itself. Retireees may begin collecting benefits as early as age 62, but early claimants receive lower monthly benefits for the rest of their lives. Our data come from...

Rapid growth in the earnings of the highest earners over the past two and a half decades has contributed to strains on Social Security’s finances and made projecting lifetime earnings on a year-by-year basis – already a complicated technical problem – even more challenging. This project...

Social Security claiming behavior matters because early claimants receive lower monthly benefits for the rest of their lives. Early claiming fell over the past decade, after increasing over the previous 10 years. However, high unemployment encourages early claiming by less-educated men. A 1...

People face a wide range of risks throughout their lifetime that can disrupt employment, reduce earnings, derail retirement planning, and impair economic well-being later in life. This paper measures the impact of health, employment, and marital status shocks on lifetime earnings. Using...

This study examines Social Security claiming behavior, which has important implications for older Americans and for the system itself. Retirees may begin collecting benefits as early as age 62, but early claimants receive lower monthly benefits for the rest of their lives. Our data come from...