Research
A Universal Retirement Plan can Reduce Inequality and Prevent Downward Mobility
Policy Note | Up to 40 percent of middle-income workers are at risk of downward mobility into poverty or near-poverty in retirement because of an inefficient retirement system that disproportionately benefits those with high incomes. Universal retirement accounts and providing workers with more equitable and better targeted tax incentives are among the best methods to supplement Social Security and prevent downward mobility in retirement.
Policy Note | Up to 40 percent of middle-income workers are at risk of downward mobility into poverty or near-poverty in retirement because of an inefficient retirement system that disproportionately benefits those with high incomes. Universal retirement accounts and providing workers with more equitable and better targeted tax incentives are among the best methods to supplement Social Security and prevent downward mobility in retirement.
Policy Note | The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a popular federal program that has been replicated in many states and lifts millions out of poverty, has historically excluded most older workers from receiving benefits at the same rate as their younger counterparts. A New York state expansion of its EITC program would benefit tens of thousands of older low-income New Yorkers, thereby supporting them at a vital time in their work lives and benefiting the state economy.
Policy Note | Social Security is the most essential and well-functioning part of the U.S. retirement system. Any reforms to federal retirement policy—while necessary and long overdue—must be built on the foundation of a protected and strengthened Social Security system. More than 60 percent of adults 65 and older receive most of their income from Social Security and all recipients benefit from the annuitized income the system provides. Despite calls to cut benefits and misleading claims about its finances, Social Security should be bolstered and expanded.
Paper | This paper models economic output jointly with health outcomes as they pertain to the COVID pandemic, finding that a continuously varying control (i.e. the lockdown intensity) fares better than sporadically taken discrete-time decisions with lockdown intensity staying constant over some time intervals.
This paper proposes a new type of tax to help finance (and accelerate) the green transition.
Article | Value capture schemes sound simple in theory – future revenues pay debt issued to cover upfront costs. But in practice, these financing mechanisms are highly complex and, as a result, can have unintended consequences on municipal finances. Research from SCEPA’s Critical Public Finance project published in the Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA) offers a new frame to evaluate TIF projects based on the tool’s potential to create, capture, & destroy value.
Article | This article contributes to the literature on monopsony models by moving away from their emphasis on exogenous factors—worker preferences, incomplete information, and barriers— and focusing on these factors as the main drivers of monopsony power. Employers have compelling profit reasons to create monopsony conditions and create labor market frictions.
