The Impact of Same-sex Marriage on Social Security's Finances
Open Access
- Author:
- Stoltz, Eric Zachary
- Area of Honors:
- Actuarial Science
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Ron Gebhardtsbauer, Thesis Supervisor
Ron Gebhardtsbauer, Thesis Honors Advisor
Lisa Lipowski Posey, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- Social Security
same-sex marriage
LGBT
actuarial science
finance - Abstract:
- This research seeks to analyze the impact of the expansion of the legalization of same-sex marriage on the finances of Social Security. Using Census Bureau data, models were developed to first calculate projected Social Security benefits for individuals, and then project the percent change in the actuarial present value of Social Security payments to married couples by recognizing same-sex marriage. The addition of same-sex married couples into the pool of Social Security beneficiaries impacts the value of Social Security payments due to two provisions: the spousal benefit and the survivor benefit. Based on the assumptions and modeling techniques used in the completion of this thesis, the spousal benefit, which allows a married Social Security beneficiary to receive the maximum of his or her own benefit or half of his or her spouse’s benefit, accounted for a 2.5% increase in annual Social Security marital benefit payments. The survivor benefit, which allows a married Social Security beneficiary to receive the maximum of his or her own benefit or 100% of his or her deceased spouse’s benefit, accounted for a 2.9% increase in annual Social Security marital benefit payments. In total, this increase in marital benefit payments due to the recognition of same-sex marriage is projected to lead to a 0.4% increase in annual Social Security disbursements.