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Reducing women's poverty by shifting social security benefits from retired couples to widows
Author(s) -
Sandell Steven H.,
Iams Howard M.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of policy analysis and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.898
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1520-6688
pISSN - 0276-8739
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1520-6688(199721)16:2<279::aid-pam5>3.0.co;2-f
Subject(s) - survey of income and program participation , social security , wife , poverty , demographic economics , marital status , economics , economic growth , socioeconomics , sociology , political science , demography , population , law , market economy
This article examines proposals to transfer Social Security benefits from married couples to surviving widows in terms of effects on poverty rates, trust fund expenditures, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) expenditures. Because widows are much more likely to be living in poverty than older married women, it makes sense to consider Social Security benefits in a lifetime framework and transfer some benefits from the time both the husband and wife are alive to the time when there is only one survivor, usually the wife. Because of expected life span and age differences of marital partners, a $1 reduction of the couple's benefit can finance a $1.45 increase in the widow's benefit. The 1990 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) matched to the Social Security Administration's benefit records are the basis for the estimates.