“Social Security is innovative, interesting, and important. Gokhale delivers on the promise in the title, providing a new appraisal of a variety of plans to reform Social Security that will appeal to a wide range of readers, including policy makers in Congress and the White House and economists concerned with retirement income.”

“Jagadeesh Gokhale once again pushes the state of the art in Social Security analysis, warning us that the largest federal spending program is in far worse financial condition than commonly supposed. Gokhale builds his analysis of Social Security from the ground up, in the process showing how more limited approaches used by government agencies don’t tell the full story. Gokhale’s analysis of Social Security is both technically first-rate and accessibly written, and it should serve as a warning to policymakers and the public not to delay in addressing this important issue.”

“Let there be no mistake—despite the urgency of the recent financial crisis and recession—the most daunting economic challenge facing our nation remains that of reducing the enormous deficits facing the United States as a result of our entitlement programs. In Social Security, Jagadeesh Gokhale provides a rigorous analysis of options for reforming this important program. His analysis serves both as a ‘call-to-action’ for our nation to take on this problem head-on and as a useful analytical framework for understanding how reform would work. Policy makers should not only read this book, they should act on it.”