State and local government workers have traditionally had defined benefit (DB) pensions that insulate them from the stock market and ensure that they do not outlive their savings. Funding these plans, however, has become burdensome for many governments, with costs rising dramatically in the immediate wake of the 2008 financial crisis and continuing to grow…

The effect of major events on the economy is often long-lasting. For example, the Great Recession triggered a large increase in the share of older workers – defined here as those ages 55 and over – who wanted to work but had given up even looking for a job…

What captures the headlines about Medicare is the exhaustion date of the Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund. But HI is only 38 percent of Medicare expenditures today and is projected to decline further, and the HI shortfall – once the trust fund assets are depleted – is only 11 percent of HI expenditures. Thus, t…