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Minimum Benefits in Social Security

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Government Spending on the Elderly

Abstract

In 1998, the bipartisan National Commission on Retirement Policy advanced a reform proposal that contained a minimum benefit within Social Security. Since then, numerous congressional proposals have included minimum benefits as part of a package of reforms, and a commission President George W. Bush set up during his first term also recommended one. Little effort, however, has been made to develop the rationale for a minimum benefit or to examine alternative designs.1 As a consequence, the design of a minimum benefit — or, for that matter, of almost all redistributive formulas within Social Security — has seldom been based on any theoretical or empirical notion of exactly what goals are sought and what types of formulaic adjustments would best achieve them.

The opinions and conclusions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Urban Institute, its board, or sponsors. The authors thank Elizabeth Bell and Daniel Murphy for research assistance. Sheila Zedlewski, Robert Triest, David Weaver, and three anonymous reviewers provided many helpful comments. This project would not have been possible without generous support from AARP Public Policy Institute.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston or the Federal Reserve System.

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Authors
  1. Melissa M. Favreault
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  2. Gordon B. T. Mermin
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  3. C. Eugene Steuerle
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  4. Robert K. Triest
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Levy Economics Institute, USA

    Dimitri B. Papadimitriou (President, Jerome Levy Professor of Economics) (President, Jerome Levy Professor of Economics)

  2. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, USA

    Dimitri B. Papadimitriou (President, Jerome Levy Professor of Economics) (President, Jerome Levy Professor of Economics)

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© 2007 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Favreault, M.M., Mermin, G.B.T., Steuerle, C.E., Triest, R.K. (2007). Minimum Benefits in Social Security. In: Papadimitriou, D.B. (eds) Government Spending on the Elderly. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230591448_13

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