Assessing Social Security Reform Alternatives, edited by Dallas L. Salisbury (Employee Benefit Research Inst., 1988).

Reviewer: Norma L. Nielson, Ph.D., Professor and Chairholder in Insurance and Risk Management, Faculty of Management, University of Calgary.

Assessing Social Security Reform Alternatives, edited by Dallas L. Salisbury, raises terrific questions but provides few answers. The book essentially is a Proceedings for a December 6,1996, forum hosted by the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI). The purpose of the forum, and the focus of discussion, is identifying variables and relationships among variables for inclusion a model being built by EBRI to provide greater insight into the broad impacts of a variety of Social Security reform proposals. Reading the book, I am certain the forum accomplished an important objective, i.e., securing "buy-in" from those holding disparate views about which Social Security reforms ought to be implemented.

The book is a collection of eighteen chapters authored by different people. It has all the advantages and disadvantages of this multi-author edited monograph form. …