The Distributional Effects of Social Security Reform.

• Position: Conference

An NBER conference on "The Distributional Effects of Social Security Reform," organized by NBER President Martin S. Feldstein and Faculty Research Fellow Jeffrey B. Liebman, both of Harvard University, was held on October 22 and 23. The following papers were discussed:

Jeffrey Liebman, "Redistribution in the Current U.S. Social Security System"

Discussant: Gary Burtless, Brookings Institution

Angus S. Deaton, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, and Christina Paxson, NBER and Princeton University, "Social Security and Inequality over the Life Cycle"

Discussant: James Poterba, NBER and MIT

Jagadeesh Gokhale, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and Laurence J. Kotlikoff, NBER and Boston University, "Social Security's Treatment of Postwar Americans: How Bad Can It Get?" (NBER Working Paper No. 7362)

Discussant: David A. Wise, NBER and Harvard University

Julia Lynn Coronado, Federal Reserve Board of Governors; Don Fullerton, NBER and University of Texas at Austin; and Thomas Glass, Glass & Company, "Long-Run Effects of Social Security Reform Proposals on Lifetime Progressivity"

Discussant: Steven Goss, Social Security Administration

Martin S. Feldstein and Jeffrey B. Liebman, "The Distributional Effects of an Investment-Based Social Security System" (NBER Working Paper No. 7492)

Discussant: John B. Shoven, NBER and Stanford University

Laurence J. Kotlikoff; Kent Smetters, University of Pennsylvania; and Jan Walliser, International Monetary Fund, "Distributional Effects in a General Equilibrium Analysis of Social Security"

Discussant: David Wilcox, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Kathleen McGarry, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles, "Guaranteed Income: SSI and the Well-Being of the Elderly Poor"

Discussant: Bruce D. Meyer, NBER and Northwestern University

Jagadeesh Gokhale and Laurence J. Kotlikoff, "The Impact of Social Security and Other Factors on the Distribution of Wealth"

Discussant: R. Glenn Hubbard, NBER and Columbia University

Martin Feldstein and Elena Ranguelova, Harvard University, "The Economics of Bequests in Pensions and Social Security" (NBER Working Paper No. 7065)

Discussant: Jonathan S. Skinner, NBER and Dartmouth College

Jeffrey R. Brown, NBER Harvard University, "Differential Mortality and the Value of Individual Account Retirement Annuities"

Discussant: Andrew Samwick, NBER and Dartmouth College

Using microdata on the lifetime earnings and benefits of two cohorts of workers, Liebman finds that spouse benefits and differential mortality greatly reduce the progressivity of the current U.S. Social Security system. While net transfers tend to fall as lifetime income rises, transfers received at a given income level vary widely, suggesting that Social Security is a relatively imprecise way of...