COULD REVISING THE SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUNDS INVESTMENT POLICIES PROVIDE MORE RESOURCES FOR THE RETIREMENT OF THE BABY BOOMERS?
The Social Security program promises levels of support to retirees that reflect concerns about the distribution and adequacy of benefits. No single policy prescription can solve the problem of how best to provide these benefits to future retirees. Unless policymakers wish to augment transfers from young to old, the only way to expand resources available to future retirees is through faster economic growth. Indeed, expanding the size of the economic pie would raise living standards for all ages. Faster growth can most reliably be attained through increased national saving–saving by individuals, businesses, and governments–to spur investment and raise productivity. Faster growth in productivity–the amount each worker can produce–leads to faster economic growth by expanding the production of goods and services that can be distributed among the population. Not only would the elderly enjoy some of this bounty, but the working people who must contribute to the Social Security system to p
