Front Matter, Economic Transfers in the United States

This PDF is a selection from an out-of-print volume from the National Bureau of Economic Research

Volume Title: Economic Transfers in the United States

Volume Author/Editor: Marilyn Moon, ed.

Volume Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Volume ISBN: 0-226-53505-3

Volume URL: http://www.nber.org/books/moon84-1

Publication Date: 1984

Chapter Title: Front matter, Economic Transfers in the United States

Chapter Author: Marilyn Moon

Chapter URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c8802

Chapter pages in book: (p. -12 - 0)

This Page Intentionally Left Blank Economic Transfers in the United States Studies in Income and Wealth Volume 49

National Bureau of Economic Research Conference on Research in Income and Wealth lxonomc Transfers in the United States

Edited by Marilyn Moon

The University of Chicago Press

Chicago and London Marilyn Moon is a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, Washington, D.C.

The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Economic transfers in the United States (Studies in income and wealth; v. 49) Papers presented at the Conference on Social Accounting for Transfers held in Madison, Wis., on 14-15 May, 1982. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Transfer payments-United States. 2. Income distribution-United States. I. Moon, Marilyn. 11. Con- ference on Social Accounting for Transfers (1982: Madison, Wis.) 111. Series. HC106.3.C714 VOI.49 [HCllO.I5] 330s [339.5’22] 84-52 ISBN 0-226-53505-3 National Bureau of Economic Research Officers Walter W. Heller, chairman Franklin A. Lindsay, vice-chairman Eli Shapiro, president David G. Hartman, executive director and corporate secretary Charles A. Walworth, treasurer Sam Parker, director offinance and administration Directors at Large Moses Abramovitz Franklin A. Lindsay Bert Seidman George T. Conklin, Jr. Roy E. Moor Eli Shapiro Jean A. Crockett Geoffrey H. Moore Stephen Stamas Morton Ehrlich Michael H. Moskow Lazare Teper Edward L. Ginzton James J. O’Leary Donald S. Wasserman David L. Grove Peter G. Peterson Marina v. N. Whitman Walter W. Heller Robert V. Roosa Saul B. Klaman Richard N. Rosett Directors by University Appointment Charles H. Berry, Princeton James L. Pierce, California, Berkeley Otto Eckstein, Harvard Nathan Rosenberg, Stanford Walter D. Fisher, Northwestern James Simler, Minnesota Ann F. Friedlaender, Massachusetts Insti- James Tobin, Yale tute of Technology William S. Vickrey, Columbia J. C. LaForce, California, Los Angeles Dudley Wallace, Duke Paul McCracken, Michigan Burton A. Weisbrod, Wisconsin Almarin Phillips, Pennsylvania Arnold Zellner, Chicago Directors by Appointment of Other Organizations Carl F. Christ, American Economic Rudolph A. Oswald, American Association Federation of Labor and Congress of Gilbert Heebner, National Association of Industrial Organizations Business Economists Joel Popkin, American Statistical Robert C. Holland, Committee for Association Economic Development G. Edward Schuh, American Agricultural Stephan F. Kaliski, Canadian Economics Economics Association Association Albert Sommers, The Conference Board Douglass C. North, Economic History Charles A. Walworth, American Institute Association of Certified Public Accountants Directors Emeriti Arthur F. Burns Thomas D. Flynn Murray Shields Emilio G. Collado Gottfried Haberler Boris Shishkin Solomon Fabricant Albert J. Hettinger, Jr. Willard L. Thorp Frank Fetter George B. Roberts Theodore 0. Yntema Since this volume is a record of conference proceedings, it has been exempted from the rules governing critical review of manuscripts by the Board of Directors of the National Bureau (resolution adopted 8 June 1948, as revised 21 November 1949 and 20 April 1968). This Page Intentionally Left Blank Contents

Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Marilyn Moon 1. Transfers in a Total Incomes System of Accounts 9 Robert Eisner 2. An Accounting Framework for Transfer Payments and Its Implications for the Size Distribution of Income 37 Edward C. Budd, Daniel B. Radner, and T. Cameron Whiteman Comment: Robert Lampman 3. Transfer Elements in the Taxation of Income from Capital 87 Harvey Galper and Eric Toder Comment: Benjamin A. Okner 4. Approaches to Measuring and Valuing In-Kind Subsidies and the Distribution of Their Benefits 139 Timothy M. Smeeding Comment: Janice Peskin 5. The Effect of Different Measures of Benefit on Estimates of the Distributive Consequences of Government Programs 177 Edgar 0. Olsen and Kathy A. York Comment: Robert Hutchens vii viii Contents

6. The Role of Time in the Measurement of Transfers and Well-Being 199 James N. Morgan Comment: Daniel S. Hamermesh 7. Income Transfers and the Economic Status of the Elderly 239 Sheldon Danziger, Jacques van der Gaag, Eugene Smolensky, and Michael K. Taussig Comment: Barbara Boyle Torrey 8. The Role of Income Transfers in Reducing Inequality between and within Regions 283 David Betson and Robert Haveman Comment: Peter Gottschalk 9. Trends in Social Security Wealth by Cohort 327 Robert Moffitt Comment: Joseph F. Quinn 10. Raising the Normal Retirement Age under Social Security: A Life-Cycle Analysis 359 Jennifer L. Warlick and Richard V. Burkhauser List of Contributors. 381 Author Index 383 Subject Index 386 Acknowledgments

This volume of Studies in Income and Wealth contains papers presented at the Conference on Social Accounting for Transfers held in Madison, Wisconsin, on 14-15 May 1982. We are grateful to the National Science Foundation for support and to the Institute for Research on Poverty and its director, Eugene Smolensky, for helping with local arrangements. Marilyn Moon served as chairman of the Program Committee and volume editor. Other members of the Program Committee were Alan Blinder, Sheldon Danziger, Milton Moss, and Michael Taussig. Mark Fitz-Patrick prepared the volume for press.

Executive Committee, August 1983 F. Thomas Juster, chairman Christopher Claque Orley Ashenfelter Helen Stone Tice Martin David Robert J. Gordon, Robert T. Michael NBER representative John R. Norsworthy Zvi Griliches , W. Erwin Diewert NBER representative Eugene Smolensky

Volume Editor’s Acknowledgments I would like to express my thanks to a number of persons who helped the conference run smoothly. Maureen Kaye and Janet Wasserstein of the National Bureau of Economic Research made many of the physical arrangements and managed much of the correspondence. My special appreciation goes to Eugene Smolensky, Director of the Institute for Research on Poverty, for his support at critical points in both the plan- ning stage and the operation of the meeting. Beverly Neuport of the

ix x Acknowledgments

Institute helped solve the inevitable problems that arise in the course of a “long distance” conference. Jill Bury of the Congressional Budget Office-with which I was affiliated while working on the conference- helped with much of the correspondence. Marilyn Moon