Authors
Francisco J Gomes, Laurence J Kotlikoff, Luis M Viceira
Publication date
2012/6/1
Journal
Tax Policy and the Economy
Volume
26
Issue
1
Pages
125-164
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Description
Governments are known for procrastinating when it comes to resolving painful policy problems. Whatever the political motives for waiting to decide, procrastination distorts economic decisions relative to what would arise with early policy resolution. In so doing, it engenders excess burden. This paper posits, calibrates, and simulates a life cycle model with earnings, life span, investment return, and future policy uncertainty. It then measures the excess burden from delayed resolution of policy uncertainty. The first uncertain policy we consider concerns the level of future Social Security benefits. Specifically, we examine how an agent would respond to learning in advance whether she will experience a major Social Security benefit cut starting at age 65. We show that having to wait to learn materially …
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