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1 i (2005)

handle is hein.amenin/aeiabls0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Income Redistribution FROM Social Security Social Security's benefit formula favors low-income recipients, so most people assume that the program redistributes income from rich to poor. However, many other factors affect the nature of income transfers through Social Security. This study examines these factors and critiques estimates of the progressivity of the program. Some reform proposals would partially privatize Social Security, but a common criticism is that low-income workers would then receive less retirement income. Yet the measurement of income redistribution from those reforms depends on the amount of redistribution in the current system. Recent studies have estimated the amount of current redistribution from Social Security, using different data and sta- tistical techniques. They find that the current system is not very progressive and may actually be regressive-redistributing from poor to rich. This monograph analyzes the factors that affect the amount of income redistri- bution. Even though the benefit formula is progressive, for example, those with higher incomes tend to have greater life expectancy and thus receive benefits for more years which tends to decrease the progressivity of Social Security. Other factors discussed include spousal benefits, nonmonetary income, sharing in the household, and the discount rate. By analyzing how existing studies control for these factors, this monograph exposes deficiencies in the current literature and identifies areas for future research. This monograph provides valuable information about income redistribution from the current system that will be useful to both opponents and proponents of Social Security reform. Don Fullerton is the Addison Baker Duncan Centennial Professor of Economics at the University of Texas-Austin. Brent Mast is a statistician at the U.S. Department of Justice and a former research associate at the American Enterprise Institute. PUBLIC POLICY/ SOCIAL SECURITY $20.00 ISBN D0-84474214-7 Am 52000 A Amnerican Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research 1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 9 780844 742144

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