Does the Social Security Trust Fund safely earmark payroll tax revenues for Social Security benefits? Or is the Trust Fund merely an accounting mirage that leads to higher federal spending in the government's unified budget? The answers to these questions are key to the debate about Social Security reform and whether prefunding future retirement benefits would best be accomplished through the Social Security Trust Fund or through personal accounts.

Kent Smetters, assistant professor of insurance and risk management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, will discuss the role of the Social Security Trust Fund in the budget process and present empirical evidence on whether policymakers have tended to save or spend the Social Security Trust Fund.