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An experimental analysis of modifications to the survivor benefit information within the Social Security statement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2018

JEFFREY DIEBOLD  and
SUSAN CAMILLERI
JEFFREY DIEBOLD
Affiliation:
North Carolina State University, School of Public and International Affairs, 212 Caldwell Hall, Campus Box 8102, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA (e-mail: jcdiebol@ncsu.edu)
SUSAN CAMILLERI
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and Policy Studies, Elon University, Campus Box 2333, Office 101B Gray Pavilion, Elon, NC 27244, USA
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Abstract

The Social Security Statement is the primary resource most workers prefer to use to learn about their Social Security benefits. The Social Security Administration periodically mails this and supporting documents to all workers to help them make informed decisions about when to start receiving their benefits. Understandably, the Statement provides detailed information about the worker's retirement benefit. However, these documents contain remarkably little information about the survivor benefit despite the financial importance of this particular auxiliary benefit to the widows of deceased workers in widowhood. We analyze the effect of modifications to the survivor benefit information in the Statement on benefit knowledge and expected claiming behavior of married men using an experimental survey of workers. The results provide evidence that the augmentation of this information can temporarily improve benefit knowledge and influence expected claim ages.

Keywords

H55I32J14Social securitysocial security statementsurvivor benefitclaiming behavior
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Pension Economics & Finance , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 21 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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