Social security and the rise in health spending

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Monetary Economics
Year: 2014
Volume: 64
Issue: C
Pages: 21-37

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

In a quantitative model of Social Security with endogenous health, I argue that Social Security increases the aggregate health spending of the economy because it redistributes resources to the elderly whose marginal propensity to spend on health is high. I show by using computational experiments that the expansion of US Social Security can account for over a third of the dramatic rise in US health spending from 1950 to 2000. In addition, Social Security has a spill-over effect on Medicare. As Social Security increases health spending, it also increases the payments from Medicare, thus raising its financial burden.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:moneco:v:64:y:2014:i:c:p:21-37
Journal Field
Macro
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29