IB#1

Introduction

The Social Security earnings test is one of the least popular features of Social Security. It also is one of the most widely misunderstood. This Issue in Brief discusses how the earnings test functions and examines options for reform...

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Jonathan Gruber is a Professor of Economics at M.I.T., and the Director of the Children’s Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Peter Orszag is the President of Sebago Associates, Inc., an economics consulting firm, and a lecturer in economics at the University of California, Berkeley ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). The authors thank Henry Aaron, Debra Bailey, Bob Cumby, Peter Diamond, Leora Friedberg, Steve Goss, Bob Greenstein, Tim Kelley, Alicia Munnell, Virginia Reno, Gene Steuerle, and Diane Whitmore for helpful conversations and/or comments. We also thank Debra Bailey, Sal Gallicchio, Tim Kelley, Barbara Lingg, and others at the Social Security Administration for their help in obtaining data about the earnings test.