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Research ArticleArticles

Early Social Security Claiming and Old-Age Poverty

Evidence from the Introduction of the Social Security Early Eligibility Age

View ORCID ProfileGary V. Engelhardt, Jonathan Gruber and Anil Kumar
Journal of Human Resources, July 2022, 57 (4) 1079-1106; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.57.4.0119-9973R1
Gary V. Engelhardt
Gary V. Engelhardt is a professor of economics at Syracuse University ().
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Jonathan Gruber
Jonathan Gruber is a professor of economics at MIT and a research associate at the NBER ().
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Anil Kumar
Anil Kumar is an economic policy advisor and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas ().
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ABSTRACT

We estimate the impact of the Social Security early entitlement age (EEA) on later-life income, poverty, and mortality by tracing birth cohorts of men who had access to different potential claiming ages from the Social Security Amendments of 1961, which introduced age 62 as the EEA. Based on 1968–2001 Current Population Survey data, the average claiming age fell by 1.4 years, and Social Security income fell for male-headed families by 2.4 percent at the mean and 6 percent at the 25th percentile. Total family income fell, and the poverty rate rose by about one percentage point. Finally, mortality rates fell modestly in retirement.

JEL Classification:
  • J26
  • H55
  • Received January 2019.
  • Accepted May 2020.
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Journal of Human Resources: 57 (4)
Journal of Human Resources
Vol. 57, Issue 4
1 Jul 2022
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Early Social Security Claiming and Old-Age Poverty
Gary V. Engelhardt, Jonathan Gruber, Anil Kumar
Journal of Human Resources Jul 2022, 57 (4) 1079-1106; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.57.4.0119-9973R1

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Early Social Security Claiming and Old-Age Poverty
Gary V. Engelhardt, Jonathan Gruber, Anil Kumar
Journal of Human Resources Jul 2022, 57 (4) 1079-1106; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.57.4.0119-9973R1
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  • Article
    • ABSTRACT
    • I. Introduction
    • II. Previous Literature
    • III. Legislative History
    • IV. Data Construction and Year-of-Birth Trends
    • V. Regression Framework
    • VI. Estimation Results
    • VII. Summary and Caveats
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  • J26
  • H55
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