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In the United States, the typical structure yields an estimated one-third reduction relative to the prior couple, with common declines after a husband’s death. Using the Retirement History Survey, the study links these benefit changes to higher poverty incidence among surviving spouses, especially widows, and compares poverty outcomes across marital transitions from 1975–77.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/changing-social-security-survivorship-benefits-and-the-poverty-of-widows-part-131-introduction/141277/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/changing-social-security-survivorship-benefits-and-the-poverty-of-widows-part-131-introduction/141277.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Connor ","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-19","2026-08-25",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How are survivorship benefits determined in the U.S. Social Security system?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"A widow’s benefit is based on the deceased husband’s Social Security contribution record and is set by a complex ruleset. In typical cases, the prior couple’s benefit is reduced by about one-third when survivorship benefits apply.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why do the authors focus on widows?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Widows constitute more than three-fourths of elderly unmarried persons in the United States. The authors therefore treat widows as the key group affected by survivorship benefit changes.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does the paper say about poverty changes after widowhood?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Transition to widowhood increases poverty substantially. The poverty rate for surviving widows reaches about 42 percent in 1977, and even for couples with incomes above the poverty line, the surviving widow’s poverty rate remains high.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},141277,1787652587,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144},687207022233,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","This PDF is a selection from an out-of-print volume from the National Bureauof Economic Research  \nVolume Title:The Economic Effects of Aging in the United States and Japan  \nVolume Author/Editor:Michael D.Hurd and Naohiro Yashiro,editors  \nVolume Publisher:University of Chicago Press  \nVolume ISBN:0-226-36100-4  \nVolume URL:http://www.nber.org/books/hurd96-1  \nPublication Date:January 1996  \nChapter Title:Changing Social Security Survivorship Benefits and the Povertyof Widows  \nChapter Author:Michael D.Hurd,David A.Wise  \nChapter URL:http://www.nber.org/chapters/c8471  \nChapter pages in book:(p.319-332)  \n# Changing Social SecuritySurvivorship Benefits and thePoverty of Widows\n\nMichael D.Hurd and David A.Wise  \n## 13.1 Introduction\n\nSurvivorship benefit is a feature of most public pension systems.In theUnited States a widow can receive Social Security benefits following the deathof her husband even though she may not have made contributions to the SocialSecurity system during her lifetime.Such a benefit is based on her deceasedhusband's record of contributions to the Social Security system.The survivor'sSocial Security benefit is determined by a complex set of rules.A33 percentreduction in the prior couple's benefit is typical.There is no reason,however,to believe that this reduction is optimal.It is not based on a theoretical principleor on empirical findings.We consider in this paper how changes in U.S.SocialSecurity survivorship benefits might be expected to change the income andpoverty rate of surviving spouses and of prior couples.We focus on widowsbecause they constitute more than three-fourths of elderly unmarried personsin the United States.  \nIn principle,a widower can receive benefits based on his deceased wife'searnings record,but in practice this is quite rare because usually his benefitbased on his own earnings record will be higher than his widower's benefit andhe is entitled to the higher benefit.For this reason,we shall often refer to thesurvivor's benefit under the U.S.Social Security system as a widow's benefit.  \nAlthough the Social Security benefit can fall by as much as 50 percent at  \nMichael D.Hurd is professor of economics at the State University of New York,Stony Brook,and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.David A.Wise is the John  \nF.Stambaugh Professor of Poltical Economy at the John FKennedy School of Government,Harvard University,and drector for Health and Retirement Programs at the National Bureau ofEconomic Research.  \nFinancial support from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership and from the Com-monwealth Fund(grant 11180)is gratefully acknowledged.The authors thank Kathleen McGarryfor excellent research assistance.  \nthe death of the husband,a decline of about one-third is typical.Using theRetirement History Survey(RHS),Hurd and Wise(1989)calculate the averageSocial Security wealth (the expected present value of Social Security benefits)of couples and surviving spouses among families in which the husband diedbetween 1975 and 1977.The average wealth of the couples was $63,700 in1975.The average Social Security wealth of the surviving spouses was $40,400in 1977.This implies a reduction in Social Security income of about one-third.  \nSocial Security is the most important component of the income of most el-derly families in the United States.In 1988,Social Security benefits were 45.9percent of the income of elderly unmarried women(Grad 1990).²One-third ofunmarried women relied on Social Security for at least 90 percent of theirincome;20 percent had income only from Social Security.It is not surprising,therefore,that the drop in Social Security benefits at the death of her husbandcould have large effects on the economic status of the surviving widow,partic-ularly a widow at the lower end of the income distribution,and that the inci-dence of poverty would be high among elderly widows.  \nIn the United States a single elderly person is said to be “in poverty”","cbCaimjXE6RLGYeU","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimjXE6RLGYeU","pdf",494780,15,"English","# 13.1 Introduction\n## Survivorship benefits and benefit reduction\n## Poverty measurement and widowhood outcomes\n## Evidence from poverty rates over 1975–77\n## Policy implication: restructuring benefits","[{\"question\":\"How are survivorship benefits determined in the U.S. Social Security system?\",\"answer\":\"A widow’s benefit is based on the deceased husband’s Social Security contribution record and is set by a complex ruleset. In typical cases, the prior couple’s benefit is reduced by about one-third when survivorship benefits apply.\"},{\"question\":\"Why do the authors focus on widows?\",\"answer\":\"Widows constitute more than three-fourths of elderly unmarried persons in the United States. The authors therefore treat widows as the key group affected by survivorship benefit changes.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the paper say about poverty changes after widowhood?\",\"answer\":\"Transition to widowhood increases poverty substantially. The poverty rate for surviving widows reaches about 42 percent in 1977, and even for couples with incomes above the poverty line, the surviving widow’s poverty rate remains high.\"}]","Changing Social Security Survivorship Benefits and the Poverty of Widows - Part 13.1 - Introduction | PDF",38]