1st Edition

Retirement Security in the Great Recession

Edited By Christian Weller Copyright 2011
220 Pages
by Routledge

152 Pages
by Routledge

160 Pages
by Routledge

Few events have posed as many challenges for retirement and retirement policy as the crisis of the late 2000s. At the end of the last decade, the United States experienced the Great Recession—a combination of unprecedented wealth losses and historically high unemployment increases that marked the longest economic recession since the Great Depression. These adverse economic shocks coincided with... Read more

1. Introduction  Christian E. Weller. Associate Professor, Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA, and Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress, Washington, DC

2. Prelude to a RIF: Older Workers, Part-Time Hours and Unemployment  Jeremy Reynolds. Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; Jeffrey B. Wenger. Associate Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, Department of Public Administration and Policy, University of Georgia, Athens, GA

3. The Impact of the Housing Crash on the Wealth of the Baby Boom CohortsDavid Rosnick. Economist, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, DC; Dean Baker. Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, DC

4. What Will Happen to Retirement Income for 401(k) Participants After the Market Decline?  Jack VanDerhei. Research Director, Employee Benefit Research Institute, Washington, DC

5. Did Retirees Save Enough to Compensate for the Increase in Individual Risk Exposure?  Christian E. Weller. Associate Professor, Department of Public Policy and Public Affairs, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA, and Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress, Washington, DC

6. Early Retiree and Near-Elderly Health Insurance in Recession  Elise Gould. Director, Health Policy Research, Economic Policy Institute, Washington, DC; Alexander Hertel-Fernandez. Research Assistant, Economic Policy Institute, Washington, DC

7. The (Interconnected) Reasons that Elder Americans File Consumer Bankruptcy  Deborah Thorne. Associate Professor of Sociology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio

8. Reforming Retirement: Values and Self-Interest Drive Support for Policy Reform in Opposite Directions  David Madland. Director, American Worker Project, Center for American Progress, Washington, DC

9. How to Supplement Social Security Fairly and Effectively  Teresa Ghilarducci. Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of Economic Policy Analysis, Department of Economics, The New School for Social Research

Biography

Christian E. Weller, PhD, is an associate professor of public policy at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is also a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC. Professor Weller’s research interests and expertise include pensions, Social Security, macroeconomics, and international finance. Professor Weller has published more than 100 academic and popular articles in addition to more than 200 policy reports and short policy commentaries. He is frequently cited in the press.