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Howell E. Jackson, Accounting for Social Security Benefits, in Behavioral Public Finance (Edward J. McCaffery & Joel Slemrod eds., 2006).


Abstract: For most working Americans, Social Security benefits represent a significant financial asset, in many cases their principal or sole source of retirement income.1 According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), the aggregate present value of Social Security benefits promised to those age sixty-two and older was $4.3 trillion dollars in January 2003 (U.S. Social Security Administration 2003).