Description: Panelists at this session of the SOA Maui II Spring Meeting discuss how well the U.S. and Candian social security systems have met the criteria for an equitable system. An Australian actuary discusses his paper 'The Development of Some Criteria for Equity and National Retirement Income Systems.'

Description: This paper presents an analysis of whether workers get their 'money's worth' from the taxes they pay under the U.S. Social Security program. The cash retirement benefits for various cases of workers who have attained age 65 in different years and at different earnings levels is explored. From Transactions of Society of Actuaries 1983, Vol. 35.

Description: This paper reviews and compares the Canadian and U.S. Social Security systems as to their adequacy, actuarial equity and progressiveness. It concludes that the Canadian system[s] provide larger minimum benefits and, thus, greater adequacy than the U. S. On the other hand, the analysis indicates more emphasis on actuarial equity in the U.S. system [in total] than in Canada. Finally, both systems are shown to be highly progressive in that lower-wage earners get larger benefits per dollar of contribution than do higher wage earners. The paper concludes by noting that while the systems in these two countries have remarkably different actuarial formulae for determining benefits, and remarkably different structures, that the benefits that result from the two systems are surprisingly similar. From Actuarial Research Clearing House 1999, Vol. 1.

Description: This article is about the relative merits of changing the U.S. Social Security system from its current defined benefit approach to a defined contribution approach.

Description: This article is a summary of responses to a questionnaire from Benjamin I. Gottlieb in Washington that had been sent to a random sample of 500 Society Fellows in the U.S. The questionnaire dealt with the anticipated long-term economic and demographic assumptions for social security.

Description: The author summarizes her experience participating as an expert as part of a forum that was launched to give the public a neutral avenue through which to express views on the U.S. Social Security program and possible reforms. This particular forum focused on women's issues with respect to Social Security.

Description: This session from the 1995 SOA Vancouver Meeting addresses the critical issues of the financing for the Social Security systems in the U.S. and Canada. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Volume 21, No. 3b.

Description: This is a panel discussion session on social insurance topics focusing on the short and long term financing issues of Social Security, the issue of general revenue financing, and proposals to revise benefit structures. Both U.S. and Canadian systems are discussed.

Description: This session from the 1995 SOA Vancouver Meeting shows a comprehensive look inside government debt problems in the U.S. and Canada, Generational Accounts and the implications on government debt of the generational accounts. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 21, No. 3b.

Description: This article is a summary of “Reports of Consultants on Actuarial and Definitional Aspects of Social Security Disability Insurance,” U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976. These reports are concerned with the disability portion of the Social Security Act and more specifically, with certain aspects of the definition of disability and the increases in benefit utilization that are taking place under this disability program.