Numerous commissions, individual researchers, and the Trustees of the Social Security system agree that the current Social Security system is not sustainable. The 2003 Trustees' report forecasts that the program's two trust funds (Old Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance) will be...

Rising health care costs threaten many older Americans’ financial security, perhaps leading people to delay retirement. For workers receiving health benefits from their employers, continued work reduces the risk of high out-of-pocket health care costs. Working longer also increases retirement...

We use the 1998-2006 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to investigate how households change their asset holdings at older ages. We find a notable increase in the net worth of older households between 1998 and 2006, with most of the growth due to housing. Our results indicate that,...

Budget rules are both necessary and arbitrary, apply one time or over time, and are frequently associated with some numerical target. The Budget Enforcement Act (BEA) rules of 1990 worked primarily because they enforced an agreement already made, backing up a broad political consensus with much...

Soaring health costs are squeezing government and household budgets. Rising public costs are also likely to boost future tax burdens. This study considers how rising tax burdens and out-of-pocket health care costs will affect the timing of retirement. Conceptually, the impact of taxes depends on...