creator: Huynh, Minh
0-5 of 5
Interim Report on the Impact of Increasing Earnings Inequality on Retirement Decisions and the Distribution of Social Security Benefits
description- – The focus of the overall project is on the distributional implications of changes in labor market outcomes on retirement labor force participation and income. Rising average real wages may well have led to earlier retirement and higher benefits for the average members of recent cohorts. But focusing on the average is likely to be highly misleading. During a time of rising inequality persons at the bottom of the wage distribution are unlikely to have retirement experiences that resemble the average experience.
- – 1999-11-01
- – application/pdf
Changes in the Distribution of Long Run Earnings and Retirement Incomes--Have Recent Cohorts Fallen Behind?
subject- – WP564
- – 2003-06-01
- – application/pdf
Changes in the Distribution of Long-Run Earnings and Retirement Incomes- Have Recent Cohorts Fallen Behind?
description- – This study is motivated by the well-documented increase in wage inequality during the 1980s and the continued high levels of inequality during the 1990s. Specifically, we examine changes in the distribution of long-run earnings and changes in economic mobility for recent cohorts. These cohorts, who either entered retirement in the 1990s or are nearing retirement, experienced very different labor market conditions during their working lives than did earlier cohorts. Economic growth led to higher mean earnings for recent cohorts but the distribution of yearly earnings became less equal. As a result of these changes, the average worker nearing retirement had higher long-run earnings than members of previous cohorts. This, however, need not have translated into higher long-run earnings across the board. Those at the bottom of the distribution of long-run earnings might actually have had lower accumulated earnings than previous cohorts if the gains from growth were more than offset by the increase in inequality of earnings during the 1980s. If the accumulated earnings of those at the bottom of the distribution fell, then this could have had an impact both on decisions about whether to continue to work after the period of normal retirement and on Social Security benefits. The second, and related, policy question is whether mobility has increased. If mobility has increased, then this may partially offset the impact of the increase in earnings inequality. Outcomes may be less equal, but there is less chance of being stuck with a bad outcome. Our ability to measure earnings mobility for five cohorts spanning a twenty-five-year period allows us to address this important question
- – 2005-01-01
- – application/pdf
Validation Study of Earnings Data in the SIPP--Do Older Workers Have Larger Measurement Error?
description- – The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is a potentially useful data set to study earnings and retirement dynamics of older workers. Respondents' self-reported work and earnings in the SIPP are, however, likely to be measured with error, and this measurement error may be particularly large for older respondents who work non-standard hours. We explore the extent of measurement error by comparing SIPP employment and earnings data to administrative records contained in the matched Detail Earning Record.
- – 2005-05-01
- – application/pdf
Are Earnings Inequality and Mobility Overstated? The Impact of Non-Classical Measurement Error
description- – Measures of inequality and mobility based on self-reported earnings reflect attributes of both the joint distribution of earnings across time and the joint distribution of measurement error and earnings. While classical measurement error would increase measures of inequality and mobility there is substantial evidence that measurement error in earnings is not classical. In this paper we present the analytical links between non-classical measurement error and measures of inequality and mobility. The empirical importance of non-classical measurement error is explored using the Survey of Income and Program Participation matched to tax records. We find that the effects of non-classical measurement error are large. However, these non-classical effects are largely offsetting when estimating mobility. As a result SIPP estimates of mobility are similar to estimates based on tax records, though SIPP estimates of inequality are smaller than estimates based on tax records.
- – WP649
- – 2006-08-02
- – application/pdf
0-5 of 5