Seesaws and Social Security Benefits Indexing
研究了美国社会保障福利价格指数化改革对不同财富和死亡率退休者的直接影响，通过理论框架将福利变化转化为消费路径变动并评估社会福利净效应，发现长寿风险保护价值是转向慢增长价格指数的重要制约。
The price indexation of Social Security benefit payments has emerged in recent years as a flashpoint of debate in the United States. I characterize the direct effects that changes in that price index would have on retirees who differ in their initial wealth at retirement and in their mortality rates after retirement. I propose a simple but flexible theoretical framework that converts benefits reform first into changes to retirees’ consumption paths and then into a net effect on social welfare. I calibrate that framework using recently produced data on Social Security beneficiaries by lifetime income decile and both existing and new survey evidence on the normative priorities Americans have regarding their Social Security benefits. The results suggest that the value retirees place on protection against longevity risk is an important caveat to the widespread enthusiasm for a switch to a slower-growing price index such as the chained CPI-U.