Retirement Security in the Great Recession

Few events have posed as many challenges for retirement and retirement policy as the crisis of the late 2000s. At the end of the last decade, the United States experienced the Great Recession—a combination of unprecedented wealth losses and historically high unemployment increases that marked the longest economic recession since the Great Depression. These adverse economic shocks coincided with the burgeoning entry into retirement by the baby boomer generation, those born in the United States between 1946 and 1964. The confluence of these trends meant that retirees may have faced greater economic insecurity than at any point since World War II.

This book brings together a number of influential researchers whose work is focused on economic policies and their impacts on retirement income security. They come from both academic and policy backgrounds. Specifically, half of the eight contributors are academics, while the other four come from think tanks in Washington, DC. This book is thus intended to combine research and policy.

This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Aging and Social Policy.

Christian E. Weller, PhD, is an associate professor of public policy at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is also a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC. Professor Weller’s research interests and expertise include pensions, Social Security, macroeconomics, and international finance. Professor Weller has published more than 100 academic and popular articles in addition to more than 200 policy reports and short policy commentaries. He is frequently cited in the press.