Is Social Security Wealth?

Abstract

Rising income inequality in recent years has been linked to a rise in wealth inequality. However, in many studies, anticipated retirement benefits such as Social Security are often not included in wealth calculations. In PERC Working Paper #1602, Andrew Rettenmaier, Executive Associate Director at PERC, estimates how the inclusion of accrued Social Security benefits affects the distribution of wealth. Findings indicate that the accrued benefits are much more equally distributed than are the conventional wealth measures that exclude them. For example, the top 10% of individuals held 70% of potential savings wealth, but this number falls to between 55% and 63% when Social Security is included in a total wealth measure.