Resource Library
Social Security Reduces Inequality in Retirement Wealth
Social Security benefits are progressive and reduce the unequal distribution of retirement wealth generated by a broken employer-based retirement system.
ReLab's study of retirement wealth inequality between 1992 and 2010 finds that the retirement system is failing everyone, with those at the bottom suffering the most. This article has been accepted for publication in a revised form in the journal of Pension Economics and Finance. Our corresponding policy note, "Extreme Inequality is Persistent, Even Among Those With Similar Earnings," discusses policies to address the inequalities baked into our system.
Inadequate retirement accounts will cause 8.5 million middle-class older workers and their spouses to be downwardly mobile, falling into poverty or near poverty in their old age.
One-third of older workers have neither retirement savings through a 401(k) or IRA, nor a defined benefit (DB) pension.
The number of earnings shocks people experience - job loss, divorce, health emergencies, etc - differs by income level, contributing to inequality in retirement wealth.
This presentation shows how Washington's residents will face increasing downward mobility in retirement.
About a quarter of people with long-term care insurance let their policies lapse before they die.
This paper finds that negative economic shocks cause 401(k) contribution behavior to react in ways consistent with reactions to fear and past trauma.
The reduction in wages resulting from the increase in older workers provides a cautionary note to those advocating delayed retirement as a solution to the retirement savings crisis.
About SCEPA
SCEPA works to focus the public economics debate on the role government can and should play in the real productive economy - that of business, management, and labor - to raise living standards, create economic security, and attain full employment.
