Andrew G. Biggs

With Social Security reform back in the news, I've been sending out more links to my chapter in @aei's new book, American Renewal. I promise it's different from the usual stuff on fixing Social Security.

americanrenewalbook.com/rethinking-soc…

I used to shine my dad's shoes for $1 a pair. I did not do nearly as good a job as this guy. Cool to watch.

Could a weakened President Trump cut a deal with Congressional Democrats on Social Security reform?littleknownfacts.substack.com/p/what-do-the-…

Romina may not agree, but in the past using the chained CPI for the income tax brackets was a trade that could be made for using the chained CPI for Social Security COLAs.

But the chained CPI was adopted for the income tax brackets as a budget offset in the 2018 TCJA. Maybe that made sense as policy. But it also took a relatively straightforward potential bipartisan trade off the table.

I have a project in the works comparing the national pension systems of OECD countries along a variety of characteristics (average benefits; progressivity of benefits; how high up the earnings ladder taxes are levied, etc).

The system Social Security most closely resembles is Germany's, which isn't crazy given that Bismarck is credited with the structure.

If we removed the payroll tax ceiling, as some suggest, Social Security might more closely resemble France's programs.

What Social Security doesn't particularly resemble is the retirement systems of other countries that are in most other respects most similar to the US: the UK, Canada, Australia, etc.