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Introduction : common sense reforms to promote retirement security / by Peter Orszag -- The automatic 401(k) : a simple way to strengthen retirement savings / by William G. Gale, J. Mark Iwry, and Peter R. Orszag -- Automatic investment : improving 401(k) portfolio investment choices / by William G. Gale and J. Mark Iwry -- Automatic IRAs : pursuing universal retirement security through automatic IRAs / by J. Mark Iwry and David C. John -- The saver's credit : expanding retirement savings for middle- and lower-income Americans / by William G. Gale, J. Mark Iwry, and Peter R. Orszag -- Protecting low-income families' savings : how retirement accounts are treated in means-tested programs and steps to remove barriers to retirement saving / by Zoe Neuberger, Robert Greenstein, and Eileen Sweeney

Federal statistics are integral to the adequate evaluation of public policy planning and performance in the United States. The Obama administration has determined that empirical science, including statistics, will be at the foundation of the president's policy agenda. However, to be useful, federal statistics must be reliable, relevant, timely, and unbiased, and the departments that produce them must be adequately funded. In this age of austerity, policies must be scrutinized for their efficiency, reach, and effectiveness. Furthermore, each department within the federal government must embrace the need for increased utilization of technology and innovation. This article lays out the need for increased utilization of statistical research of public policy; moreover, this utilization is exemplified by highlighting several FY 2010 budgetary decisions made in the policy areas of health and education.

Federal statistics are integral to the adequate evaluation of public policy planning and performance in the United States. The Obama administration has determined that empirical science, including statistics, will be at the foundation of the president's policy agenda. However, to be useful, federal statistics must be reliable, relevant, timely, and unbiased, and the departments that produce them must be adequately funded. In this age of austerity, policies must be scrutinized for their efficiency, reach, and effectiveness. Furthermore, each department within the federal government must embrace the need for increased utilization of technology and innovation. This article lays out the need for increased utilization of statistical research of public policy; moreover, this utilization is exemplified by highlighting several FY 2010 budgetary decisions made in the policy areas of health and education. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]

A brief overview of Social Security -- Goals for Social Security reform -- Social Security's long-term deficit -- A three-part plan to shore up Social Security -- Strengthening Social Security's effectiveness as social insurance -- Implications for benefits and revenue -- Individual accounts -- Questions and answers about our balanced reform plan -- Conclusions -- Appendixes: A. Social Security and national saving -- B. Trends in retirement age -- C. How the legacy debt arose: A simplified example -- D. Characteristics of tax-favored defined-contribution plans -- E. Should the trust fund invest in the stock market? -- F. Comparisons with models 2 and 3 of the President's Commission -- G. Memorandum from the Office of the Chief Actuary -- H. Long-term analysis of the Diamond-Orszag Social Security plan

While everyone agrees that Social Security is a vital and necessary government program, there have been widely divergent plans for reforming it. Peter A. Diamond and Peter R. Orszag, two of the nation's foremost economists, propose a reform plan that would rescue the program both from its projected financial problems and from those who would destroy the program in order to save it. vi ng Social Security's's strategy balances benefit and revenue adjustments, following the precedent set by the last major Social Security reform in the early 1980s. The authors' proposal restores long-term balance and sustainable solvency to the program without imposing additional burdens on the rest of the budget. Further, it protects disability and young survivor benefits and strengthens Social Security's protections for low earners and widows. Most important, the plan preserves the program's core social insurance role by providing a base-level of assured income to American workers and their families in time of need. To better understand the accomplishments and financial problems of Social Security, Diamond and Orszag provide background on the program, as well as on the causes of the long-term deficit. They suggest ways in which various alternative reform plans should be evaluated and explain the shortcomings of proposals to replace part of Social Security with individual accounts. Saving Social Security is essential reading for policymakers involved in reform, analysts, students, and all those interested in the fate of this safeguard of American lives.

Mortality gradients by education and income have been rising in the United States and elsewhere. However, their impact on Social Security progressivity has received relatively little attention, and the impact on Medicare has received effectively none. This paper uses the Future Elderly Model to estimate the effects of increased mortality gaps on the progressivity of Social Security and Medicare for those born between 1928 and 1990. It finds significant reductions in progressivity of both programs if current mortality trends persist and noticeable effects on total program costs. The effects are large enough to warrant more attention from both policy-makers and researchers.