Description: History of different treatment of men and women under the rules of the U.S. Social Security program.

Description: Panelists and audience engage in a discussion about how to address – and how not to address – the basic financial-income needs of people in the U.S. after they have retired from a productive work life. Considers the current Social Security system in the U.S. and the systems in other countries. From the 1997 Record of Society of Actuaries, Vol. 23, No. 3.

Description: Every October, the U.S. Social Security Administration announces certain changes in programamounts that occur automatically—that is, without any new legislation being necessary.

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: The 1977 introduction of Average Indexed Monthly Earnings into the U.S. Social Security benefit formula makes it necessary to seek new ways to estimate the Primary Insurance Amount - the author proposes a formula for this estimate.

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: This article introduces the special rules that apply to employees of state and local governments that choose to be covered by the U.S. Social Security program.

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.