Perspectives from the President's Commission on Social Security Reform

Bibliographic Data

ID4029202
AuthorsJohn F Cogan (Hoover Institution, Stanford, California.), Olivia S Mitchell (0000-0002-6419-8314, University of Pennsylvania)
Year2003
Volume17
Issue2
Pages149-172
Publication date2003-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Economic Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0895-3309 • E-ISSN: 1944-7965
PublisherAmerican Economic Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1257/089533003765888485
OpenAlexW2125842588
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited9

Recently we were asked to serve on the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security (CSSS) along with 14 other members drawn equally from both major political parties. The Commission's charge was to provide recommendations to modernize the Social Security system, restore its fiscal soundness, and develop a workable system of Personal Retirement Accounts. This paper explains how the Commission arrived at some of its recommendations and the role that economics played in contributing to these recommendations. We describe the key institutional constraints confronting efforts to reform Social Security and how these constraints influenced Commission decisions. We also illustrate how economics research influenced the Commission's analysis of how to structure personal accounts, ways to enhance traditional Social Security program finances, and means of measuring the extent of financial progress achieved through reform

Commission · Economics · Political science · Politics · Social security · Soundness · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Law · Public Administration · Finance

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