Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T14:56:40.489Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How do social security expenditures vary by state? The surprising impact of unemployment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2018

LaTasha Y. Chaffin  and
J. Kevin Corder
LaTasha Y. Chaffin
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, College of Charleston, USA E-mail: [email protected]
J. Kevin Corder
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Western Michigan University, USA E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We examine state-level variation in the flow of benefits under the largest Social Security programme – the Old-Age (OA) programme. OA pensions remain a robust and growing component of the American social safety net. Although OA pensions are entirely administered by the federal government, state-level demographic features can imply different aggregate levels of programme expenditures across states. We describe high levels of variation in the resources flowing into states from the OA programme and we find relationships between state features that might seem only remotely related to income support for the elderly: current unemployment rates, previous income levels, poverty rates and minority populations. We find a particularly strong link between current unemployment rates, OA coverage and OA average benefits. The number of recipients and the level of average OA payments increase when unemployment increases. This is a poorly understood but important feature of the OA programme.

Keywords

ageingfederal spendinglabour marketsocial securityunemployment
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 305 - 328
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amberg, S. (2008) Liberal Market Economy or Composite Regime? Institutional Legacies and Labor Market Policy in the United States. Polity 40(2): 164–196.Google Scholar
Amenta, E., Bonastia, C. and Caren, N. (2001) U.S. Social Policy in Comparative and Historical Perspective: Concepts, Images, Arguments and Research Strategies. Annual Review of Sociology 27: 213–234.Google Scholar
Berry, C., Burden, B. and Howell, W. (2010) The President and the Distribution of Federal Spending. American Political Science Review 104(4): 783–799.Google Scholar
Brown, R. D. (1995) Party Cleavages and Welfare Effort in the American States. American Political Science Review 89(1): 22–33.Google Scholar
Chaffin, LaTasha Y. (2013) The War Against Joblessness: U.S. Intervention in State Labor Markets in Response to Economic Recessions, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI.Google Scholar
Congressional Budget Office (2013) The Effects of Automatic Stabilizers on the Federal Budget as of 2013, cbo.gov (accessed 8 August 2015).Google Scholar
DeWitt, L. (2010) The Decision to Exclude Agricultural and Domestic Workers from the 1935 Social Security Act. Social Security Bulletin 70(4): 49–68.Google Scholar
Elazar, D. J. (1966) American Federalism: A View from the States. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co.Google Scholar
Engelhardt, G. V. and Gruber, J. (2006) Social Security and the Evolution of Elderly Poverty. In Auerbach A. J., Card D. and Quigley J. M. (eds.), Public Policy and the Income Distribution. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 259–287.Google Scholar
Gilson, D. (2012) Most Red States Take More Money From Washington Than They Put in. Mother Jones, motherjones.com (accessed 8 August 2015).Google Scholar
Government Accountability Office (GAO) (2012) Unemployed Older Workers: Many Experience Challenges Regaining Employment and Face Reduced Retirement Security. GAO-12-445. Washington, DC: GAO.Google Scholar
Grogan, C. M. (1994) Political-Economic Factors Influencing State Medicaid Policy. Political Research Quarterly 47(3): 589–622.Google Scholar
Hanson, K. and Andrews, M. (2009) State Variations in the Food Stamp Benefit Reduction Rate for Earnings: Cross-Program Effects from TANF and SSI Cash Assistance. Department of Agriculture. Economic Research Service, ers.usda.gov (accessed 8 August 2015).Google Scholar
Hero, R. E. and Tolbert, C. J. (1996) A Racial/Ethnic Diversity Interpretation of Politics and Policy in the States of the U.S. American Journal of Political Science 40(3): 851–871.Google Scholar
Im, K. S., Pesaran, M. H. and Shin, Y. (2003) Testing for Unit Roots in Heterogeneous Panels. Journal of Econometrics 115: 53–74.Google Scholar
Internal Revenue Service (2014) Table 5. Gross Collections, by Type of Tax and State, Fiscal Year 2013. IRS Data Book, irs.gov (accessed 4 August 2015).Google Scholar
Jacoby, W. G. and Schneider, S. K. (2001) Variability in State Policy Priorities: An Empirical Analysis. The Journal of Politics 63(2): 544–568.Google Scholar
Keiser, L. and Soss, J. (1998) With Good Cause: Bureaucratic Discretion and the Politics of Child Support Enforcement. American Journal of Political Science 42(4): 1133–1156.Google Scholar
Lieske, J. (2010) The Changing Regional Subcultures of the American States and the Utility of a New Cultural Measure. Political Research Quarterly 63(3): 538–552.Google Scholar
Lin, G. (1997) Elderly Migration: Household Versus Individual Level Approaches. Papers in Regional Science: The Journal of the RSAI 76(3): 285–300.Google Scholar
Miller, S. M. and Kaiser, L. R. (2012) State Governments as Entrepreneurs in Securing Federal Benefits for their Citizens. Publius: The Journal of Federalism 43(4): 497–526.Google Scholar
Nakamura, E. and Steinsson, J. (2014) Fiscal Stimulus in a Monetary Union: Evidence from U.S. Regions. American Economic Review 104(3): 753–792.Google Scholar
Nugent, J. D. (2009) Safeguarding Federalism: How States Protect their Interests in National Policymaking. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) (2013) Pensions at a Glance, 2013: OECD and G20 Indicators, oecd.gov (accessed 14 August 2015).Google Scholar
Owyang, M. T., Piger, J. and Wall, H. J. (2005) Business Cycle Phases in U.S. States. Review of Economics and Statistics 87(4): 604–616.Google Scholar
Peterson, P. E. and Rom, M. (1990) Welfare Magnets: A New Case for a National Standard. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Pew, C. T. (2014) Federal Spending in the States, 2004 to 2013, 2 December, pewtrusts.org (accessed 4 August 2015).Google Scholar
Phillips, P. C. B. (1986) Understanding Spurious Regression in Econometrics. Journal of Econometrics 33(3): 311–340.Google Scholar
Plotnick, R. D. and Winters, R. F. (1985) A Politico-Economic Theory of Income Redistribution. American Political Science Review 79(2): 458–473.Google Scholar
Quadagno, J. S. (1987) Theories of the Welfare State. Annual Review of Sociology 13: 109–128.Google Scholar
Rich, M. (1989) Distributive Politics and the Allocation of Federal Grants. The American Political Science Review 83(1): 193–213.Google Scholar
Rich, M. (2012) Forced to Early Social Security, Unemployed Pay a Steep Price. The New York Times, A1.Google Scholar
Romer, C. and Romer, D. (2014) Transfer Payments and the Macroeconomy: The Effects of Social Security Benefit Increases, 1952-1991. NBER Working Paper No. 20087, National Bureau of Economic Research. Cambridge, MA, nber.org (accessed 4 August 2015).Google Scholar
Social Security Administration (SSA) (2015) Annual Statistical Supplement, 2015, ssa.gov (accessed 15 August 2015).Google Scholar
Strand, A. (2002) Social Security Disability Programs: Assessing the Variation in Allowance Rates. Social Security Administration, Office of Policy, ssa.gov (accessed 4 August 2015).Google Scholar
Tierney, J. (2014) Which States are Givers and Which States are Takers, 5 May. The Atlantic, theatlantic.com (accessed 8 August 2015).Google Scholar
Trustees of the Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds (2014) Annual Report, ssa.gov (accessed 14 August 2014).Google Scholar
Van de Water, P. N. and Sherman, A. (2012) Social Security Keeps 21 Million Americans Out of Poverty: A State-by-State Analysis. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, cbpp.org (accessed 8 July 2015).Google Scholar
Whitman, K., Reznik, G. L. and Shoffner, D. (2011) Who Never Receives Social Security Benefits? Social Security Bulletin 70(2): 17–24.Google Scholar
Wooldridge, J. (2002) Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Zilak, J. P., Gundersen, C. and Figlio, D. N. (2003) Food Stamp Caseloads Over the Business Cycle. Southern Economic Journal 69(4): 903–919.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Chaffin and Corder supplementary material

Appendix 2

Download Chaffin and Corder supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 260.1 KB