Reporting accuracy of Social Security benefits and its implications in the Health and Retirement Study

Q3 Social Sciences

Journal of Economic and Social Measurement Pub Date : 2018-05-09 DOI:10.3233/JEM-180449

Irena Dushi, H. Iams

引用次数: 1

Abstract

This paper examines whether and to what extent the amount of Social Security benefits of older survey respondents in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) are reported accurately. Inaccurate reporting leads to biased estimates of gross Social Security benefits, affecting estimates of elderly well-being, including the proportion of beneficiaries classified as poor or near poor. Our findings indicate that 73% of HRS respondents report only the net amount of Social Security benefits they receive, excluding Medicare premiums. The implication is that Social Security benefits in the HRS are underestimates of the true gross benefits. Therefore, the HRS data overestimate the proportion of the elderly respondents who are poor or nearly poor. Finally, even after correcting for gross benefits, Social Security income comprises at least 50% of the total family income for about half of elderly respondents.

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社会保障福利的报告准确性及其在健康和退休研究中的意义

本文研究了健康与退休研究（HRS）中老年受访者的社会保障福利金额是否以及在多大程度上被准确报告。不准确的报告导致对社会保障福利总额的估计存在偏差，影响了对老年人福祉的估计，包括被归类为贫困或接近贫困的受益人的比例。我们的调查结果表明，73%的HRS受访者只报告了他们获得的社会保障福利净额，不包括医疗保险费。这意味着HRS中的社会保障福利低估了真实的总福利。因此，HRS数据高估了贫困或接近贫困的老年受访者的比例。最后，即使在扣除总福利后，约一半的老年受访者的社会保障收入至少占家庭总收入的50%。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Economic and Social Measurement Social Sciences-Social Sciences (all)

CiteScore

1.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Economic and Social Measurement (JESM) is a quarterly journal that is concerned with the investigation of all aspects of production, distribution and use of economic and other societal statistical data, and with the use of computers in that context. JESM publishes articles that consider the statistical methodology of economic and social science measurements. It is concerned with the methods and problems of data distribution, including the design and implementation of data base systems and, more generally, computer software and hardware for distributing and accessing statistical data files. Its focus on computer software also includes the valuation of algorithms and their implementation, assessing the degree to which particular algorithms may yield more or less accurate computed results. It addresses the technical and even legal problems of the collection and use of data, legislation and administrative actions affecting government produced or distributed data files, and similar topics. The journal serves as a forum for the exchange of information and views between data producers and users. In addition, it considers the various uses to which statistical data may be put, particularly to the degree that these uses illustrate or affect the properties of the data. The data considered in JESM are usually economic or social, as mentioned, but this is not a requirement; the editorial policies of JESM do not place a priori restrictions upon the data that might be considered within individual articles. Furthermore, there are no limitations concerning the source of the data.