Social security and the evolution of elderly poverty
By: Gary V. Engelhardt, Jonathan Gruber.
Contributors: Gruber, Jonathan.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 10466; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 10466.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Social security.; Elderly poor.
Description: "We use data from the March 1968-2001 Current Population Surveys to document the evolution of elderly poverty over this time period, and to assess the causal role of the Social Security program in reducing poverty rates.  We develop an instrumental variable approach that relies on the large increase in benefits for birth cohorts from 1885 through 1916, and the subsequent decline and flattening of real benefits growth due to the Social Securing 'notch', to estimate of Social Security on elderly poverty.  Our findings suggest that over all elderly families the elasticity of poverty to benefits is roughly unitary.  This suggests that reductions in Social Security benefits would significantly alter the poverty of the elderly"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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Mode of access: World Wide Web.