Improving Public Understanding of OASI

Many people express doubts about the longevity of the Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust funds, and specifically whether they will receive benefits when they retire. Half of individuals aged 51–64 say they worry a great deal about the solvency of the fund. Such skepticism may be problematic if it consolidates among younger people who pay into the fund today, but hold doubts about its longevity. To address this problem, we test whether information and communication interventions improve understanding of the issue and increase confidence in the Social Security Administration. We implement a two-wave survey-based experiment among a representative sample of the US population and examine the efficacy of various strategies by comparing them against current modes of communication by the Social Security Administration and Social Security Trustees. In particular, we contrast Social Security’s current messaging approach with a personalized financial information treatment where people are exposed to the online Social Security retirement calculator.


PLEASE NOTE:
The research reported herein was performed pursuant to a grant from the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) funded as part of the Retirement and Disability Consortium. The opinions and conclusions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not represent the opinions or policy of SSA or any agency of the Federal Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the contents of this report. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof.