Davies Paul S, Rupp Kalman, Strand Alexander
Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics, Social Security Administration, Washington, DC 20254, USA.
J Aging Soc Policy. 2004;16(1):21-42. doi: 10.1300/J031v16n01_02.
Is it more effective to reduce poverty among the elderly by increasing the benefits paid by the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program or by increasing eligibility for the program? This paper answers that question from a policymaker's perspective. At given program cost levels, we compare the potential reduction in poverty from increasing benefit levels to the potential reduction associated with a variety of policy proposals that would increase eligibility for the program. This paper employs a microsimulation model containing an eligibility and benefits calculator, a participation model, and an optimization algorithm. The data are from the Survey of Income and Program Participation supplemented by the administrative records of the SSI program. The results show that increasing eligibility by relaxing the restrictions of the means tests can be more effective in reducing poverty than raising benefit levels.
通过增加补充保障收入（SSI）计划支付的福利，还是通过扩大该计划的资格范围来减少老年人贫困更为有效？本文从政策制定者的角度回答了这个问题。在给定的计划成本水平下，我们将提高福利水平带来的贫困潜在减少幅度与一系列扩大该计划资格范围的政策提案所带来的潜在减少幅度进行比较。本文采用了一个微观模拟模型，该模型包含资格和福利计算器、参与模型以及优化算法。数据来自收入与计划参与调查，并辅以SSI计划的行政记录。结果表明，通过放宽经济状况调查限制来扩大资格范围，在减少贫困方面可能比提高福利水平更有效。
