Pensions, Social Security, and the Privatization of Risk

As Social Security, workplace pensions, and individual retirement accounts become more insecure, America's pension system is in serious need of rehabilitation. In this timely volume, Mitchell A. Orenstein and his distinguished colleagues Gary Burtless, Teresa Ghilarducci, and Alicia Munnell argue that any reform of the U.S. pension system must address both future imbalances in the Social Security program and weaknesses in the workplace and individual retirement systems on which a growing number of Americans now rely. Weighing what is gained against what is lost as new proposals surface, this book offers a clear account and reasoned analysis of the looming crisis, as well as our collective alternatives both domestically and abroad.

Mitchell A. Orenstein is S. Richard Hirsch Associate Professor of European Studies at the Washington, D.C.-based Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of Privatizing Pensions: The Transnational Campaign for Social Security Reform.