Social Security Reform

Social Security, as currently constructed, will impose excessive tax burdens upon working Americans in the 21st Century. The National Commission on Retirement Policy plan and others would provide a better way, but as Blahous suggests, each requires political courage. He contends the public must better understand the stakes and assert its will over the insiders now dominating the debate.

Much could be gained from the privatization of social security--but can the gains actually be delivered? Dixon, Hyde, and their contributing authors take a balanced look at where we are now, and where we seem to be moving, on the issues of social security privatization and come up skeptical. There will be tradeoffs, but will the benefits outweigh the costs? Their volume examines a variety of settings in Latin America, Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa, where the "marketization" of social security appears most hotly contested. As a contribution to this new, energetic global policy discourse, the book will be of special interest to policymakers in the public and private sectors, and particularly in organizations where concerns about the growing cost of employee benefits have become critical.

The two papers that make up the core of this book address a fundamental question in the current debate over Social Security, whether to shift, in part or entirely, from today's pay-as-you-go system to one in which individuals retain control over the investment of their funds and therefore personally bear the associated risk. John Shoven argues yes, Henry Aaron no.

Dixon examines the social security systems of 172 countries. Focusing on the diverse array of approaches existing today, he explores global social security patterns, recent developments, and future issues, and he assesses and ranks social security programs and systems. By providing a global perspective on social security, Dixon enables scholars, students, and social security administrators to place national and perhaps regional social security policy debates into their larger, regional and global settings. The volume is intended for scholars and graduate students in the broad fields of social work, social welfare, and social security.

Few days pass without front page newspaper articles about the disarray in the American social security system and the oncoming crisis of exploding costs and imbalance between workers and retirees. New proposals to address these issues constantly surface from presidential candidates, Congress, and interest groups. Yet, few recognize that in the second half of the twentieth century, there has been a global expansion of social security systems, and there may be lessons to be learned from other societies. This collection of essays is designed to examine the diverse approaches developed in Australia, Britain, Chile, Hong Kong, Kenya, and Singapore. By analyzing different approaches--and different degrees of success--those debating public policy may find alternatives that can be adapted to meet American social needs.

Social security systems throughout the world are faced with unprecedented challenges in response to growing criticisms about unacceptable expenditures for government programs and questions about the appropriate role of government in providing social protection through social insurance and social assistance programs. The challenges are also a result of dramatic demographic, social, and cultural changes around the world. A variety of radical and modest reform measures are currently being discussed which have the potential of significantly impacting the means of income and health care for the elderly, children, and families.

This work is a theoretically informed political history of the development of the U.S. Social Security system over more than five decades. When initiated in 1935, Social Security was a noteworthy experiment in social policy, and its endurance, inviolability, and taken-for-granted nature are evidence of its success. In this volume, the author analyzes key turning points in its history in order to provide an understanding of the various forces that led to this success. This book addresses several key questions: What were the important legislative turning points? What individuals or organizations were active in the social and political debates surrounding these turning points? Why were some of these organizational actors more successful than others in influencing policy outcomes, and what were the opportunities or constraints these organizations faced? A second major concern of the book is to explore the often contradictory interpretations of the relationship between the development of Social Security and the role of the state. The author's interpretation knits together insights from major sociological theories to fashion a dynamic explanation of the development of Social Security, one that acknowledges the economic, political, and cultural context and takes into account the importance of specific organizational and social movement actors. This theoretical framework permits an examination of the ways in which various groups influence political change.