Journal Article
Social Security and Medicare: no free lunch
Viard, Alan D.; Saving, Jason L. (2005-01)
Southwest Economy , Issue Jan , Pages 1, 8-12

Journal Article
Pay-as-you-go Social Security and the aging of America: an economic analysis
Viard, Alan D. (2002)
Because it is a mature pay-as-you-go retirement system, Social Security provides current and future workers with below-market returns. These workers bear the burden of the unfunded liability arising from windfall gains to past retirees. Alan D. Viard uses these principles to examine the effects of three demographic developments: the low birthrate since the baby boom ended in 1965, the impending retirement of the baby boomers, and the downward trend in old-age mortality. The low birthrate reduces Social Securitys long-run rate of return as the unfunded liability is spread across fewer workers. ...
Economic and Financial Policy Review

Journal Article
The federal budget: what a difference a year makes
Viard, Alan D. (2002-01)
Southwest Economy , Issue Jan , Pages 1, 6-10

Journal Article
The new budget outlook: policymakers respond to the surplus
Viard, Alan D. (1999-04)
Economic events and policy changes have unexpectedly moved the federal budget into surplus. If current policies are maintained, surpluses are expected to continue for twenty years, although deficits are expected to return after 2020. Congress and President Clinton are considering proposals to reduce the projected surpluses through tax cuts or spending increases. In this article, Alan Viard describes the recent budget events and the new budget outlook. He analyzes the effects of the proposed tax cuts and spending increases, finding that they are likely to reduce national saving and lower ...
Economic and Financial Policy Review , Issue Q II , Pages 2-15

Journal Article
Social Security restructuring: tough decisions ahead
Viard, Alan D.; Saving, Jason L. (2003-09)
Southwest Economy , Issue Sep , Pages 13-17

Journal Article
The transition to consumption taxation, part 1: the impact on existing capital
Viard, Alan D. (2000-07)
Alan Viard reviews the transitional impact on existing capital from replacing the income tax with a consumption tax. This replacement generally reduces the real value of existing capital because it does not receive the tax relief given to new investment. If the income and consumption taxes had stylized forms and capital were produced without adjustment costs, the proportional decline would equal the consumption tax rate--a 25 percent tax would uniformly reduce the value of existing capital by 25 percent. Under more realistic assumptions, however, the actual decline is likely to be smaller ...
Economic and Financial Policy Review , Issue Q3 , Pages 2-22

Working Paper
The welfare effects of pay-as-you-go retirement programs: the role of tax and benefit timing
Viard, Alan D. (2006)
It is well known that pay-as-you-go retirement programs reduce steady-state welfare and the capital stock in dynamically efficient OLG economies. The common two-period OLG model obscures, however, the dependence of these effects on the ages at which taxes are paid and benefits are received. Program changes that shift taxes to older workers or benefits to younger retirees have effects similar to reductions in program size, yielding steady-state welfare gains and increases in capital accumulation while imposing transition costs on current generations. This analysis has policy implications for ...
Working Papers , Paper 0602

Journal Article
Would a research tax credit be a good investment for Texas?
Viard, Alan D.; Sigalla, Fiona (1999-03)
Southwest Economy , Issue Mar , Pages 1-7

Working Paper
Legal fee restrictions, moral hazard, and attorney profits
Viard, Alan D.; Santore, Rudy (1999)
When attorney effort is unobservable and certain other simplifying assumptions (such as risk neutrality) hold, it is efficient for an attorney to purchase the rights to a client's legal claim. However, the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct prohibit this arrangement. We show that this ethical restriction, which is formally equivalent to requiring a minimum fixed fee of zero, can create economic rents for attorneys, even though they continue to compete along the contingent-fee dimension. The contingent fee is not bid down to the zero-profit level, because such a fee ...
Working Papers , Paper 9912

Journal Article
The second great migration: economic and policy implications
Viard, Alan D.; Orrenius, Pia M. (2000-05)
Southwest Economy , Issue May , Pages 1-8