Andrew Biggs: Social Security benefit increase from 1970 to 1980 driven by formula error

Andrew Biggs: Social Security benefit increase from 1970 to 1980 driven by formula error
Social Security surged in 1970s formula error

Andrew Biggs highlights that the Social Security benefit increase between 1970 and 1980 was approximately 80 percent, surpassing both inflation and wage growth. He explains that this significant rise was attributed to an error in the benefit formula introduced in 1972, though Congress only recouped about half of the increase.

Biggs previously noted a Congressional Budget Office finding that Social Security's deficit has shrunk but will add to U.S. federal debt, according to an earlier report. He has also analyzed research suggesting that benefit-reduction reforms to Social Security could boost GDP and lower the national debt ratio, as detailed in another analysis. These perspectives provide recent context to his ongoing focus on Social Security programs and fiscal policy.

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