MACROECONOMIC EFFECTS OF REDUCING OASI BENEFITS: A COMPARISON OF SEVEN OVERLAPPING-GENERATIONS MODELS

In this paper, we evaluate the effects of a reduction in Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) benefits using seven different quantitative general equilibrium overlapping-generations (OLG) models. We compare the effects of an anticipated one-third reduction in OASI benefits beginning in 2031 on an economy that maintains currently scheduled benefits. We find many of the models generate qualitatively similar results concerning budgetary and macroeconomic aggregates; however, the magnitude of the effects varies owing to the models’ structure and calibration strategies.