Aging Nation: The Economics and Politics of Growing Older in America
Aging Nation: The Economics and Politics of Growing Older in America
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老龄化国家：美国老龄化的经济和政治
DOI：
10.1080/01634370903256914
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发表时间：
2009
影响因子：
3.2
通讯作者：
A. Ghesquiere
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
A. Ghesquiere
最近的报告表明，在大约7年内，社会保障将开始支付更多的福利比它收集的税收（霍斯利，2009年），平装本发布的2006年的老龄化国家是很好的时机。这本书描述了婴儿潮一代的老龄化导致的美国人口的人口变化，特别关注公共和私人退休和医疗保健计划的压力。经济学家詹姆斯·舒尔茨和政治学家罗伯特·宾斯托克在承认社会保障和医疗保险的危险状态的同时，消除了关于社会保障现状的普遍神话，并提出了修改建议，使该系统能够继续下去。《老龄化国家》平装版包括一个新的序言，重申了作者仍然相关的观点。这本书的大部分内容都是纯粹的事实。舒尔茨和宾斯托克开始在第一章中明确概述了关于社会保障和医疗保险资金的辩论。自20世纪70年代末以来，人们一直担心目前的劳动力将无法维持社会保障体系，社会保障体系将走向破产，它将从社会计划中拿走所需的资源，或者美国老年人拥有不公平的政治游说力量，随着每个政党的崛起而起伏不定。在第三章中，舒尔茨和宾斯托克将社会保障制度的根源追溯到奥托·冯·俾斯麦在19世纪普鲁士提出的养老保险理念，并讨论了它在罗斯福大萧条后的新政政策中的起源。虽然罗斯福认识到通过工资税而不是政府一般收入来为社会保障提供资金的潜在陷阱，但他认为该计划的政治性是必不可少的，“以赋予缴款人领取养老金和失业救济金的法律的、道德和政治权利”（第53页）。在第4、5和6章中，作者讨论了养老金计划的历史和类型，以及它们在处理退休计划中固有的经济不安全和风险方面的必要性。特别有用的是对退休计划的具体指导。作者还回顾了智利养老金计划的弱点，这是一个失败的私有化方法，以及英国和澳大利亚的私有化系统。在第7章中，作者概述了这场辩论
As recent reports indicate that, in about 7 years, Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes (Horsely, 2009), the paperback release of 2006’s Aging Nation is well timed. The book describes the demographic changes in the US population resulting from the aging of the baby boomer generation, with particular focus on the resulting strains on public and private retirement and health care programs. While acknowledging the perilous state of Social Security and Medicare, economist James Schultz and political scientist Robert Binstock dispel widespread myths about the current state of Social Security and offer suggestions for modifications that would allow the system to continue.The paperback edition of Aging Nation includes a new preface that reiterates the authors’ still-relevant standpoints. Much of the book’s content is purely factual. Schultz and Binstock begin in Chapter 1 with a clear overview of the debate over the funding of Social Security and Medicare. Fears that the current workforce will not be able to maintain the system, that Social Security was headed for bankruptcy, that it will take needed resources away from social programs, or that older Americans have unfair amounts of political lobbying power have existed since the late 1970s, waxing and waning with the rise of each political party. In Chapter 3, Schultz and Binstock trace Social Security’s roots to Otto von Bismark’s idea for old-age insurance in 19th-century Prussia, and discuss its origins in Roosevelt’s post-Depression New Deal policies. Although Roosevelt recognized the potential pitfalls of funding Social Security through payroll taxes, rather than general government revenues, he argued that the politics of the program were essential “to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and their unemployment benefits”(p. 53). In Chapters 4, 5, and 6, the authors discuss the history and types of pension plans, and their necessity for dealing with the economic insecurity and risks inherent in retirement planning. Especially helpful is specific guidance for retirement planning. The authors also review the weaknesses of old-age pensions plans in Chile, which had a failed privatized approach, and privatized systems in the UK and Australia. In Chapter 7, the authors outline the debate