<DIV>Social security is the largest and perhaps the most popular program run by the federal government. Given the projected increase in both individual life expectancy and sheer number of retirees, however, the current system faces an eventual overload. Alternative proposals have emerged, ranging...</div>

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,...

The composition of business investment in the United States changed dramatically during the 1980s. Workplaces were transformed as a result of investments in information processing equipment such as computers, fax machines, copiers, and sophisticated telephones. Businesses built new office towers...

<DIV><DIV><I>Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment</I> analyzes the changing economic and demographic environment in which social insurance programs that benefit elderly households will operate.  It also explores how these ongoing trends will affect future beneficiaries, under both the current social...</i></div></div>

The IRS estimates that more than 20 percent of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) payments are made in error. By matching the Current Population Survey (CPS) to tax return data, this paper finds that a large portion of the overpayments went to families with children. Depending on the exact measure...

The degree to which the Social Security tax distorts labor supply depends on the extent to which individuals perceive the link between current earnings and future Social Security benefits. Some Social Security reform plans have been motivated by an assumption that workers fail to perceive this...

Experimental estimates from Moving to Opportunity (MTO) show no significant impacts of moves to lowerâ€poverty neighborhoods on adult economic selfâ€sufficiency four to seven years after random assignment. The authors disagree with Clampetâ€Lundquist and Massey's claim that MTO was a...

This paper presents the results of a randomized field experiment that provided information about key Social Security features to older workers. The experiment was designed to examine whether it is possible to affect individual behavior using a relatively inexpensive informational intervention...

This study focuses on 540 households originally living in public housing in high-poverty areas of Boston who participated in HUD’s Moving To Opportunity (MTO) demonstration. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Experimental – offered mobility counseling and a Section 8...