Early claiming of higher-earning husbands, the survivor benefit, and the incidence of poverty among recent widows

TitleEarly claiming of higher-earning husbands, the survivor benefit, and the incidence of poverty among recent widows
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsDiebold, J, Moulton, JG, Scott, JC
JournalJournal of Pension Economics and Finance
Volume16
Issue4
Pagination485-508
ISSN Number1474-7472
KeywordsBereavement, Social Security, Widowhood, Women and Minorities
Abstract

Social Security provides survivor benefits to lower-earning spouses of deceased workers entitled to a retirement benefit. The value of the survivor benefit depends on a number of factors including the deceased worker's claim age. We use the Health and Retirement Study and a discrete time hazard model to analyze how the claim age of married men influences the likelihood that their spouse will enter poverty in widowhood. We find that delayed claiming is associated with reduction in a widow's poverty risk. The magnitude of this relationship varies significantly with the claim age, Social Security dependence, and survivor benefit dependence.

URLhttps://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1474747215000438/type/journal_articlehttps://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1474747215000438
DOI10.1017/S1474747215000438
Short TitleJournal of Pension Economics and Finance
Citation Key9309