A major factor weighing down the long-term finances of state and local governments is the obligation to fund retiree benefits. While state and local government pension obligations have been analyzed in great detail, much less attention has been paid to the costs of the other major retiree...

Points out some of the important considerations and compares how two competing health reform initiatives, the Clinton administration's "Health Security Act" and Representative Cooper's "Managed Competition Act," deal with health care reform.

We evaluate the long–run sustainability of health spending growth. Under the criterion that non–health consumption does not fall, 1 percent excess cost growth appears to be an upper bound for the economy as a whole when the projection horizon extends over the century, although some groups...

The aging of the US population undoubtedly will be associated with macroeconomic changes. In particular, some combination of lower consumption growth and increased labor input will ultimately be required. But, the timing of these changes can have important effects on variables like the rate of...