Reducing women's poverty by shifting social security benefits from retired couples to widows

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 mar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of policy analysis and management 1997-04, Vol.16 (2), p.279-297
Main Authors: Sandell, Steven H., Iams, Howard M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Economic benefits
Expenditures
Husbands
Poverty
Poverty and Social Security
Poverty rates
Public Policy
Retired persons
Retirement benefits
Social Security
Social Security benefits
Spouses
Supplemental security income
Transfers
U.S.A
United States
Widows
Widows & widowers
Wives
Women
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0276-8739
1520-6688
DOI:10.1002/(SICI)1520-6688(199721)16:2<279::AID-PAM5>3.0.CO;2-F