www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/NOTES/pdf_notes/note151.pdf

waysandmeans.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=330425

www.cbo.gov/publication/44090

B. “Differences Between the Traditional CPI and the Chained CPI,” by Rob McClelland (Apr. 19, 2013).

www.cbo.gov/publication/44088

waysandmeans.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=328603

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_monthly/2013-03/index.html

B. International Update, April 2013 (April 2013, HTML and .pdf format, 3p.).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/intl_update/2013-04/index.html

C. Monthly Statistical Snapshot, March 2013 (April 2013, HTML and .pdf format, 3p.).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/2013-03.html

www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/solvency/GMoore_20130329.pdf

dem.sagepub.com/content/12/2.toc

International Social Security Review (Vol. 66, No. 2, April-June 2013).

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/issr.2013.66.issue-2/issuetoc

Journal of Aging & Social Policy (Vol. 25, No. 2, 2013).

www.tandfonline.com/toc/wasp20/25/2

www.urban.org/retirement_policy/url.cfm?ID=412801

www.demos.org/publication/expanded-social-security-plan-increase-retirement-security-all-americans

www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/expanded_social_security

More information about NAF:

www.newamerica.net/about

B. “Estimated Financial Effects on Social Security of the “Strengthening Social Security Act of 2013,” legislation introduced on March 14, 2013 by Senator Tom Harkin” (March 2013, .pdf format, 19p.).

Both are accessible from:

www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/solvency/index.html

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_monthly/2013-02/index.html

B. “Social Security Programs Throughout the World: Asia and the Pacific, 2012,” (March 2013, .pdf and HTML format, 229p.).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/2012-2013/asia/index.html

C. “Monthly Statistical Snapshot, February 2013” (March 2013, HTML and .pdf format, 3p.).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/2013-02.html

energycommerce.house.gov/hearing/saving-seniors-and-our-most-vulnerable-citizens-entitlement-crisis

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/intl_update/2013-03/index.html

www.aarp.org/work/social-security/info-03-2013/major-federal-benefit-programs-impact-of-chained-cpi-AARP-ppi-econ-sec.html

Abstract:

This paper examines how advertising impacts competition and equilibrium prices in the context of a privatized pension market. We use detailed administrative data on fund manager choices and worker characteristics at the inception of Mexico’s privatized social security system, where fund managers had to set prices (management fees) at the national level, but could select sales force levels by local geographic areas. We develop a model of fund manager choice, price and advertising competition (in terms of sales force deployment), nesting models of informative and persuasive advertising. We find evidence in favor of the persuasive view; exposure to sales force lowered price sensitivity and increased brand loyalty, leading to inelastic demand and high equilibrium fees. We simulate oft-proposed policy solutions: a supply-side policy with a competitive government player, and a demand-side policy which increases price elasticity. We find that demand-side policies are necessary to foster competition in social-safety-net markets with large segments of inelastic consumers.

www.nber.org/papers/w18881

B. “Disability, Earnings, Income and Consumption,” by Bruce D. Meyer and Wallace K.C. Mok (w18869, March 2013, .pdf format, 53p.).

Abstract:

Using longitudinal data for 1968-2009 for male household heads, we determine the prevalence of pre- retirement age disability and its association with a wide range of outcomes, including earnings, income, and consumption. We then employ some of these quantities in the optimal social insurance framework of Chetty (2006) to study current compensation for the disabled. Six of our findings stand out. First, disability rates are high. We divide the disabled along two dimensions based on the persistence and severity of their work-limiting condition. We estimate that a person reaching age 50 has a 36 percent chance of having been disabled at least temporarily once during his working years, and a 9 percent chance that he has begun a chronic and severe disability. Second, the economic consequences of disability are frequently profound. Ten years after disability onset, a person with a chronic and severe disability on average experiences a 79 percent decline in earnings, a 35 percent decline in after-tax income, a 24 percent decline in food and housing consumption and a 22 percent decline in food consumption. Third, economic circumstances differ sharply across disability groups. The outcome decline for the chronically and severely disabled is often more than twice as large as that for the average disabled head. Fourth, our findings show the partial and incomplete roles that individual savings, family support and social insurance play in reducing the consumption drop that follows disability. Fifth, time use and detailed consumption data further indicate that disability is associated with a decline in well-being. Sixth, using the quantities we have estimated, we provide the range of behavioral elasticities and preference parameters consistent with current disability compensation being optimal within the Chetty framework.

www.nber.org/papers/w18869

www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/ran5/index.html

B. “Death and Disability Life Table for Insured Workers,” by  Johanna Maleh, Robert Baldwin, and Jason Schultz (No. 2012.6, February 2013, .pdf format, 6p.). Note: no HTML format report is available at this time. Click on the .pdf drop box and then click on “February 2013″).

www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/ran6/index.html

C. “Moneys Worth Ratios Under the OASDI Program for Hypothetical Workers,” by Michael Clingman, Kyle Burkhalter, and Chris Chaplain (No. 2012.7, March 2013, .pdf format, 10p.). Note: no HTML format report is available at this time. Click on the .pdf drop box and then click on “March 2013″).

www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/ran7/index.html

www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/solvency/provisions/index.html

B. International Update, February 2013 (February 2013, HTML and .pdf format, 3p.).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/intl_update/2013-02/index.html

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v73n1/index.html

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/supplement/2012/index.html

www.nasi.org/research/2013/report-strengthening-social-security-what-do-americans-want

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/issr.2013.66.issue-1/issuetoc

B. “The Nature and Evolution of Methodologies for Social Security Projections,” by Stephen Goss, Alice Wade, Michael Morris, and Karen Glenn (No. 150, January 2013, .pdf format, 4p.).

Both can be accessed at:

www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/n2010s.html

C. “Scaled Factors for Hypothetical Earnings Examples under the 2012 Trustees Report Assumptions,” by Michael Clingman and Kyle Burkhalter (No. 2012.3, November 2013, HTML and .pdf format, 10p.).

HTML:

www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/ran3/an2012-3.html

.pdf:

www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/ran3/an2012-3.pdf

4. “Illustrative Benefits for Retired Workers, Disabled Workers, and Survivors Scheduled Under Current Law,” by Michael Clingman, Kyle Burkhalter, and Chris Chaplain (No. 2012.4, November 2012, HTML and .pdf format, p.).

HTML:

www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/ran4/an2012-4.html

.pdf:

www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/ran4/an2012-4.pdf

www.cbo.gov/publication/43834

www.cbo.gov/publication/43834

Abstract:

Social Security benefits are the most important component of the income of a large fraction of older Americans. A significant fraction of persons approach the end of life with few financial assets and no home equity, relying almost entirely on Social Security benefits for support. Whether persons reach late-life with positive non-annuity wealth depends importantly on health, which is quite persistent over the life-time. Persons in poor health in old age have a higher-than-average probability of having experienced low earnings while in the labor force, which puts them at greater risk of having low Social Security benefits in retirement. While the progressivity of the Social Security benefit formula provides a safety net to support low-wage workers in retirement, a noticeable fraction of persons, especially those in single-person households, still have income below the poverty level in their last years of life. Many of these individuals have few assets to draw on to supplement their income, and are in poor health. In general, low assets and low income in old age are strongly related to poor health. We explore this nexus and describe the relationship between Social Security benefits and the exhaustion of non-annuity assets near the end of life. We examine the relationship between the drawdown of assets between the first year an individual is observed in the AHEAD data (1995) and the last year that individual is observed before death, and that individual’s health, Social Security benefits, and other annuity benefits. We conclude that Social Security and defined benefit pension benefits are strongly ‘protective’ of non-annuity assets, with a negative relationship between these income flows and the likelihood of exhausting non-annuity assets. We also find that poor health is an important determinant of the drawdown of non-annuity wealth.

www.nber.org/papers/w18658

www.tandfonline.com/toc/wcli20/36/1

Educational Gerontology (Vol. 39, No. 2, February 2013).

www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/uedg/2013/00000039/00000002

International Psychogeriatrics (Vol. 25, No. 2, February 2013).

journals.cambridge.org/action/displayIssue?decade=2010&jid=IPG&volumeId=25&issueId=02&iid=8787357

International Social Security Review (Vol. 66, No. 1, January-March 2013).

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/issr.2013.66.issue-1/issuetoc

Journal of Aging & Social Policy (Vol. 25, No. 1, 2013).

www.tandfonline.com/toc/wasp20/25/1

Journal of Aging Studies (Vol. 27, No. 1, January 2013).

www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08904065

Journal of Gerontology (A): Biological Sciences (Vol. 68, No. 2, February 2013).

biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/68/2.toc

Journal of Gerontological Social Work (Vol. 56, No. 1, 2013).

www.tandfonline.com/toc/wger20/56/1

Journal of Parkinson’s Disease (Vol. 2, No. 4, 2012).

iospress.metapress.com/content/mhv363315824/

www.aei.org/papers/health/healthcare-reform/saving-medicare-a-market-cure-for-an-ailing-program/

B. “Financing entitlements and promoting work: Does policy encourage early retirement?” by Aspen Gorry and Sita Nataraj Slavov (AEI Economic Perspectives, December 2012, .pdf format, 12p.).

www.aei.org/papers/economics/retirement/financing-entitlements-and-promoting-work-does-policy-encourage-early-retirement/

www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/12/3-social-security-fixes-to-solve-the-real-fiscal-crisis

www.cbo.gov/publication/43759

www.aarp.org/work/social-security/info-11-2012/social-security-a-key-retirement-income-source-for-older-minorities-AARP-ppi-econ-sec.html

B. “Adopting a Chained CPI Targets the Oldest, Poorest Americans,” (December 2012, .pdf format, 2p.).

www.aarp.org/work/social-security/info-12-2012/adopting-a-chained-cpi-targets-the-oldest-poorest-americans-AARP-ppi-econ-sec.html

Abstract:

This paper brings new evidence from the privatized social security system in Mexico, offering insight into investment behavior and the efficacy of government ‘nudges’ in the context of profit maximizing firms. We use administrative data from the social security system surrounding the government adoption of a new official fee index aimed at simplifying fees and increasing price sensitivity of investors. The fee index combined load and management fees in a particular way, implying that choosing a lower index firm could lead many workers to choose a higher-cost fund for them. We find that before the index, investors of all backgrounds paid little attention to fees when choosing fund managers. Post-policy intervention, investors heavily weighted the fee index regardless of whether doing so caused them to choose a higher-cost fund. In contrast to investors, we find that firms responded optimally to the changes in demand induced by government policy, restructuring rather than lowering their fees to minimize the index. The strategic response erased gains to consumers from increased price sensitivity and redistributed management fees from high-income to low-income segments of the market. We conclude that regulations and policies aimed at aiding consumer decision-making also need to incorporate firm incentives to be effective.

papers.nber.org/papers/w18582

B. “The Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign and Russia’s Mortality Crisis,” by Jay Bhattacharya, Christina Gathmann, and Grant Miller (w18589, December 2012, .pdf format, 45p.).

Abstract:

Political and economic transition is often blamed for Russia’s 40% surge in deaths between 1990 and 1994. Highlighting that increases in mortality occurred primarily among alcohol-related causes and among working-age men (the heaviest drinkers), this paper investigates an alternative explanation: the demise of the 1985-1988 Gorbachev Anti-Alcohol Campaign. Using archival sources to build a new oblast-year data set spanning 1978-2000, we find a variety of evidence suggesting that the campaign’s end explains a large share of the mortality crisis – implying that Russia’s transition to capitalism and democracy was not as lethal as commonly suggested.

papers.nber.org/papers/w18589

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/intl_update/2012-11/index.html

B. Monthly Statistical Snapshot: October 2012 (November 2012).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/index.html

C. SSI Monthly Statistics, October 2012 (November 2012, HTML and .pdf format).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_monthly/2012-10/index.html

www.aarp.org/work/social-security/info-12-2012/adopting-a-chained-cpi-targets-the-oldest-poorest-americans-AARP-ppi-econ-sec.html

www.aarp.org/work/social-security/info-11-2012/social-security-a-key-retirement-income-source-for-older-minorities-AARP-ppi-econ-sec.html

opencrs.com/document/94-803/2012-11-08/?26921

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v72n4/index.html

www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/index_abstract.cfm?ptid=1&pid=860

B. “Mismeasurement of Pensions Before and After Retirement: The Mystery of the Disappearing Pensions with Implications for the Importance of Social Security as a Source of Retirement Support,” by Alan L. Gustman, Thomas L. Steinmeier and Nahid Tabatabai (WP 2012-268, September 2012, .pdf format, 36p.). Note: Links to the abstract and full-text can be found at:

www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/index_abstract.cfm?ptid=1&pid=856

C. “Barriers to Later Retirement: Increases in the Full Retirement Age, Age Discrimination, and the Physical Challenges of Work,” by David Neumark and Joanne Song (WP 2012-265, September 2012, .pdf format, 36p.). Note: Links to the abstract and full-text can be found at:

www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/index_abstract.cfm?ptid=1&pid=858

www.aarp.org/work/social-security/info-10-2012/proposed-changes-to-cola-insight-AARP-ppi-econ-sec.html

B. AARP: the Journal (Fall 2012).

journal.aarpinternational.org/current-edition

A. International Update, October 2012 (October 2012, HTML and .pdf format, 4p.).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/intl_update/2012-10/index.html

B. Monthly Statistical Snapshot: September 2012 (October 2012).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/index.html

C. SSI Monthly Statistics, September 2012 (October 2012, HTML and .pdf format).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_monthly/2012-09/index.html

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/F/bo14302727

B. Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Historical Trends in Mortality and Health, Employment, and Disability Insurance Participation and Reforms, edited by David A. Wise (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report, 2012, 472p., ISBN: Cloth: 9780226903095, E-book: 9780226921952).For more information, including ordering information, see:

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo13948236.html

www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/uedg/2013/00000039/00000001

International Social Security Review (Vol. 65, No. 4, October-December 2012).

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/issr.2012.65.issue-4/issuetoc

Journal of Gerontological Social Work (Vol. 55, No. 8, October 2012).

www.tandfonline.com/toc/wger20/55/8

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/prog_highlights/RatesLimits2013.html

www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3851

A. “Ambiguity Attitudes and Economic Behavior: Evidence from a U.S. Household Survey,” by Stephen G. Dimmock, Roy Kouwenberg, Olivia S. Mitchell, and Kim Peijnenburg (WP2012-20, September 2012, .pdf format, 54p.). Note: Links to the abstract and full-text can be found at:

www.pensionresearchcouncil.org/publications/document.php?file=1037

B. “Exchanging Delayed Social Security Benefits for Lump Sums: Could This Incentivize Longer Work Careers?” by Jingjing Chai, Raimond Maurer, Olivia S. Mitchell, and Ralph Rogalla (WP2012-21, October 2012, .pdf format, 29p.). Note: Links to the abstract and full-text can be found at:

www.pensionresearchcouncil.org/publications/document.php?file=1036

www.urban.org/publications/412661.html

B. “Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Benefits Over a Lifetime: 2012 Update,” by C. Eugene Steuerle and Caleb Quakenbush (October 2012, .pdf format, 9p.).

www.urban.org/publications/412660.html

www.cbo.gov/publication/43648

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/index.html

B. SSI Monthly Statistics, August 2012 (September 2012, HTML and .pdf format).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_monthly/2012-08/index.html

crr.bc.edu/working-papers/growth-in-health-consumption-and-its-implications-for-financing-oasdi-an-international-perspective/

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/oasdi_zip/2011/index.html

B. International Update, September 2012 (September 2012, .pdf format, 3p.).

www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/intl_update/2012-09/index.html