ECON 3840

Economics of Social Security

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2015-2016.

Provides students with an "economic tool-kit" for evaluating social policies. Economic analysis is used to predict the behavioral and distributional consequences of such policies. Students learn to use computer software on data from the Current Population Survey to estimate the economic well-being of both older people with disabilities, show how sensitive their results are to the methods used, and stimulate the effects of alternative policies on these outcomes.

When Offered Fall.

Prerequisites/Corequisites Prerequisite: PAM 2000 or equivalent.

Distribution Category (SBA-AS)

• Understand and evaluate the assumptions necessary to empirically estimate poverty and income inequality in the United States.
• Use these measures of poverty and income to show the distributional consequences of the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance system and the Supplemental Security Insurance system.
• Understand and use basic microeconomic modeling of labor supply decisions to evaluate the behavior consequences of the current Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance system and the Supplemental Security Insurance system and various policy reforms of these systems.

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