Release date: Feb. 24, 2005
Contact: Elaine Justice at 404-727-0643 or elaine.justice@emory.edu

Emory Financial Experts Comment on Social Security Reform

The following Emory University experts are available to comment on aspects of the Bush administration proposal on Social Security reform.

Robert Chirinko, an Emory economist specializing in investment and capital formation, says one issue that needs to be considered is that Social Security functions as an insurance program. "Under the current plan, there is a redistribution from upper income to lower income workers. Personal accounts cut against this redistribution/insurance." 404-727-6645, rchirin@emory.edu

Jeff Busse, a finance professor at Goizueta Business School, is positive about the idea of partial privatization, but has some questions about how it would work in practice. "I personally think it's a good idea, but maybe not for everybody," he says. "On average, the stock market does pretty well as a long-term investment. The downside is that there's always going to be some subset of people who aren't going to make good decisions." 404-727-0160, jeff_busse@bus.emory.edu

Jagdish Sheth, a futurist and global marketing expert at Goizueta Business School, argues that the aging of the country's 70 million baby boomers will leave policymakers with few alternatives to privatizing the system. "There is nothing one can do to sustain the current Social Security system, unless the government itself changes its investment policies," he says. 404-727-7603 (w), 404-325-0313 (h), jagdish_sheth@bus.emory.edu.

Randall Strahan, an Emory political scientist specializing in federal politics, says what's most lacking in the Social Security debate "is a clear, nonpartisan account of what the condition of the program really is. So much of the information is being spun one way or the other." Strahan believes something is likely to get through the House but not through the Senate. "One problem for the administration is that—to make this even close to working financially—they will probably have to reduce the growth in benefits," a major problem for Republican senators who are running for reelection in 2006. 404-727-7913, randall.strahan@emory.edu

For more Emory opinions on Social Security reform, go to:

http://knowledge.emory.edu/index.cfm?fa=whatshot

http://news.emory.edu/Releases/chirinko1107467923

Emory University is known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities. For nearly two decades Emory has been named one of the country's top 25 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

Subscribe to News@Emory RSS feeds for automatic updates of the latest news at Emory.

Back