Funding Theories of Social Insurance [Discussion]

In restating for our benefit Henry Aaron’s theorem "The Social Insurance Paradox" and in extending the same type of analysis to conditions contrary to those assumed by Aaron, James Hickman has given us in "Funding Theories for Social Insurance" a deliberately simplified and limited analysis of alternative social insurance funding systems. He has been careful to draw no conclusions not justified by his analysis and he has attempted to attribute no more validity to his assumptions than they deserve. He has, in fact, warned us very effectively against the careless acceptance of conclusions based on his own or anyone else’s assumptions.