Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach - Softcover

Diamond, Peter A.; Orszag, Peter R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0815718373 ISBN 13: 9780815718376

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press, 2005

Synopsis

New in Paperback. While everyone agrees that Social Security is a vital and necessary government program, there have been widely divergent plans for reforming it. Peter A. Diamond and Peter R. Orszag, two of the nation's foremost economists, propose a reform plan that would rescue the program both from its projected financial problems and from those who would destroy the program in order to save it. Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2004, the Social Security debate has moved to the center of the domestic policy agenda. In this updated edition of Saving Social Security, the authors analyze the Bush Administration's proposal for individual accounts and discuss the so-called "price indexing" proposal to restore long-term solvency through changing how initial benefits would be calculated. Soc ial Security is essis essential reading for policymakers involved in reform, analysts, students, and all those interested in the fate of this safeguard of American lives. "An honest, transparent and comprehensive approach to making the much needed reforms to the Social Security program."—Journal of Pensions, Economics, and Finance

"Very accessible presentation of facts, analysis of underlying problems, comparison of opinions, and argument for proposed reforms."—Future Survey Exhaustively researched and deeply entrenched in practical issues and mathematical calculations... a highly recommended ray of hope against a looming national crisis." —Wisconsin Bookwatch "Diamond and Orszag bring some welcome realism and decency to the debate."—Robert M. Solow, Institute Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nobel Laureate in Economics

About this title

About the Author

Peter A. Diamond is an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His recent books include Social Security Reform, The 1999 Lindahl Lectures (Oxford University Press, 2002) and Taxation, Incomplete Markets, and Social Security: The 2000 Munich Lectures(MIT Press, 2002). He is a former president of both the American Economic Association and the National Academy of Social Insurance. Peter R. Orszag is director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget under President Obama. His previous positions include director of the Congressional Budget Office and Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is also a research professor at Georgetown University and a codirector of the Tax Policy Center. He served as special assistant to the president for economic policy during the Clinton administration.

Review

"An honest, transparent, and comprehensive approach to making the much needed reforms to the Social Security program." — Journal of Pensions, Economics, and Finance

"What [the book] demonstrates is this: With a balanced approach that includes both benefits cuts and new revenue, Social Security can be restored to good health and without the radical surgery others have recommended." — Boston Globe

"A concise and well-written book." — Political Studies Review

"The debate about reforming Social Security has become increasingly ideological. Scare tactics and unrealistic promises have become the norm. Diamond and Orszag bring some welcome realism and decency to the debate. They show exactly where the current system is strained, and they suggest concrete ways to strengthen and improve it with the least possible disruption to the lives of future workers and beneficiaries, especially the most vulnerable among them. There is no magic here, just the kind of honesty and common sense you would want from a really good mechanic." —Robert M. Solow, Institute Professor Emeritus, MIT, and Nobel Laureate in Economics

"When members of Congress get serious about fixing Social Security, they should begin by reading this book, instead of appointing another commission." —Michael J. Graetz, Justus S. Hotchkiss Professor of Law, Yale University Law School

About this edition

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0815718373
• ISBN 13: 9780815718376
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 321