EPI work on Social Security

[Jump to State Social Security work]

EPI’s Issue Guide on Social Security, revised in May 2005, includes an introduction to Social Security, frequently asked questions about Social Security privatization, links to other organizations’ research and more. The entire guide is also available for download as a single Acrobat PDF file.

Social Security provides the primary life insurance protection for most children
By David Ratner and Lee Price, October 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Shifting risk: Workers today near retirement more vulnerable and with lower pensions
By Lee Price, July 2005 (Issue Brief)

Two Steps Back: African Americans and Latinos will lose ground under Social Security “reform”
By Ross Eisenbrey and William Spriggs, July 2005 (Issue Brief)

Looking in the wrong places: Why benefit cuts will not solve Social Security’s financing problem
By William Spriggs and David Ratner, July 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Social Security’s cruelest cut: Bush’s proposal slashes benefits for family members of workers who die before retirement
By William Spriggs and David Ratner, July 2005 (Issue Brief)

The DeMint plan to raid the Social Security trust fund
By Lee Price and David Ratner, July 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Economic conditions affecting Social Security and the merits of pre-funding
By Lee Price, June 2005 (Congressional testimony, EPI Viewpoint)

Many already lack a steady job before the Social Security retirement age
By Elise Gould, June 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Social Security price indexing proposal means benefit cuts for workers
By William E. Spriggs and David Ratner, June 2005 (Issue Brief)

Lifting cap on Social Security taxes would rescue retirement program
By Lawrence Mishel, May 2005 (EPI Viewpoint)

Growth in Social Security wealth outpaces all other sources
By Amy Chasanov, May 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Retirement Income: The Crucial Role of Social Security
By Christian Weller and Edward N. Wolff, May 2005 (EPI Book)

Productivity growth and Social Security’s future
By William E. Spriggs and Lee Price, May 2005 (Issue Brief)

Social Security: Why put a critical middle-class program at risk?
By Lee Price, May 2005 (EPI Viewpoint)

President’s proposal for deep cuts in middle-income Social Security benefits
By Amy Chasanov and Lee Price, May 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Lessons from the Social Security debate
By Jared Bernstein and Mark Greenberg, April 2005 (EPI Viewpoint)

Social Security’s fixable financing issues: Shortfall in funds is not inevitable
By L. Josh Bivens, April 2005 (Issue Brief)

Coming soon to your mailbox: Government misinformation
By Amy Chasanov, March 2005 (EPI Viewpoint)

Social Security Income and the Elderly
By Michael Ettlinger and Jeff Chapman, March 2005 (Issue Brief)

Big deficit, little deficit: The Bush budget and Social Security
By Max B. Sawicky, March 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Collision course: The Bush budget and Social Security
By Max B. Sawicky, March 2005 (Briefing Paper)

Implications of the Bush budget for people over 55
By Lee Price, March 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Top earners get Social Security windfall, others get the bill
By William E. Spriggs, March 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Bush plays down SSA benefits to widows, disabled
By William E. Spriggs, March 2005 (EPI Viewpoint)

Walkmans to iPods: Social Security is better equipped to provide family income protection
By William E. Spriggs, February 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Removing earnings cap could fix Social Security shortfall
By L. Josh Bivens, February 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Proposed Social Security price indexing would slash benefits
By Amy Chasanov, February 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Social Security privatization’s motherhood penalty
By William Spriggs, February 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Privatization fix for Social Security is worse than doing nothing
By Josh Bivens, January 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Proposal by the president’s Social Security commission whittles away at income support
By Lee Price, January 2005 (Economic Snapshot)

Private accounts: The ‘spicy sauce’ to sell deep benefit cuts
By Lee Price, December 2004 (Economic Snapshot)

Social Security and income
By Josh Bivens, November 2004 (Economic Snapshot)

Related EPI Publications

Shifting risk: Workers today near retirement more vulnerable and with lower pensions
By Lee Price, July 2005 (Issue Brief #213)

Retirement Income: The Crucial Role of Social Security
By Christian Weller and Edward N. Wolff, May 2005 (EPI book)

Health Insurance Coverage in Retirement: The Erosion of Retirement Income Security
By Christian Weller, Jeff Wenger, and Elise Gould, June 2004 (EPI book)

Retirement Made Riskier: House Pension Bill, Treasury Proposal ignore the real problems
By Sarah Harding and Christian Weller, April 2003 (Issue Brief #189)

Retirement Out Of Reach
by Christian Weller, August 2002
(Briefing Paper #129)

Retirement Insecurity: The Income Shortfalls Awaiting the Soon-to-Retire
by Edward N. Wolff, 2002 (EPI Book)

Shortchanging the next generation: Proposed Social Security cut would index benefits to 2006 living standards level, eroding retirement income for everyone thereafter
by Christian Weller, September 2001 (Issue Brief #162)

You’re in good hands with Social Security: But privatization proposals would unravel its ability to insure against loss of income, disability, and death
by Christian Weller, July 2001 (Issue Brief #161)

The commission’s straw man: Social Security well prepared for retirement of baby boomers in 2016
by Christian Weller, July 2001 (Issue Brief #159)

What the crash means for your retirement
by Christian Weller, May 2001 (Issue Brief #156)

Trust fund’s rainy day postponed, again
by Edith Rasell and Christian E. Weller, March 2001 (Issue Brief #152)

The Problems With Privatization
Economic Policy Institute, December 2000 (Social Security Policy Brief)

Social Security and Women
Economic Policy Institute, December 2000 (Social Security Policy Brief)

Social Security: Options for Reform
Economic Policy Institute, December 2000 (Social Security Policy Brief)

Raising the Retirement Age: The wrong direction for Social Security
by Christian Weller, September 2000 (Briefing Paper #98)

The Perils of Privatization: Bush’s lethal plan for Social Security
by Edith Rasell and Christian Weller, May 2000 (Issue Brief #145)

Getting better all the time: Social Security’s ever-improving future
by Christian Weller and Edith Rasell, March 2000 (Issue Brief #140)

Fixing Social Security: The Clinton plan and its alternatives
by Edith Rasell and Jeff Faux, April 1999 (Briefing Paper #82)

Social Security Isn’t Broken: So why does Wall Street want to fix it?
EPI Paycheck Economics 1998

The Feldstein-Samwick ‘Two Percent Solution’: New Social Security Proposal Is Both Inadequate and Risky
by Edith Rasell, November 1998 (Issue Brief #128)

Saving Social Security in Three Steps
by Dean Baker, 1998 (Briefing Paper #79)

Defusing the Baby Boomer Time Bomb: Projections of Income in the 21st Century
by Dean Baker, 1998 (study)

America’s Golden Years Ensuring Prosperity in an Aging Society
by Edith Rasell, Max Sawicky, and Dean Baker, 1998 (Issue Brief #125)

The Distributional Effects of Raising the Social Security Retirement Age and Partially Indexing Benefits
by Edward Wolff and Howard Chernick, 1996 (Working Paper #115)

Privatizing Social Security: The Wall Street Fix
by Dean Baker, 1996 (Issue Brief #112)

Robbing the Cradle? A Critical Assessment of Generational Accounting
by Dean Baker, 1995 (study)

State Social Security work

Social Security and the income of the elderly
By Michael Ettlinger and Jeff Chapman, March 2005 (Issue Brief #206)

Social Security facts by state and congressional district (April 2005)