Barry P. Bosworth, The Brookings Institution; Kathleen Burke, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: “This analysis uses data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine the sources of variation in mortality for individuals of varying socio-economic status (SES). The use of the HRS allows a distinction between education and a measure of career earnings as primary determinants of socio-economic status for men and women separately. We use those predictions of mortality to estimate the distribution of annual and lifetime OASDI benefits for different birth cohorts spanning the birth years from 1900 to 1950. We find differential rates of mortality have had substantial effects in altering the distribution lifetime benefits in favor of higher income individuals.”

• See also Growing Older in America: The Health and Retirement Study: “This publication is about one major resource — the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) — designed to inform the national retirement discussion as the population so dramatically ages. Since its launch in 1992, the HRS has painted a detailed portrait of America’s older adults, helping us learn about this growing population’s physical and mental health, insurance coverage, financial situations, family support systems, work status, and retirement planning. Through its unique and in-depth interviews with a nationally representative sample of adults over the age of 50, the HRS provides an invaluable, growing body of multidisciplinary data to help address the challenges and opportunities of aging.”