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Teresa Ghilarducci (born July 22, 1957) is an American scholar on labor and retirement issues. She has advocated for government to extend occupational retirement plan coverage to all workers. She published ''Rescuing Retirement'' (with Tony James) in 2018; the book makes the case for a Guaranteed Retirement Account that would supplement Social Security. In 2016 she wrote a popular book, ''How to Retire with Enough Money: And How to Know What Enough Is''. One of her most recent books, ''When I’m Sixty Four: The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them'', investigates the loss of pensions on older Americans and proposes a comprehensive system of reform. Her previous books include'' Labor's Capital: The Economics and Politics of Employer Pensions'', winner of an
Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...
award in 1992, and ''Portable Pension Plans for Casual Labor Markets'', published in 1995. Ghilarducci is an executive board member of the
Economic Policy Institute The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit American, left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C., that carries out economic research and analyzes the economic impact of policies and proposals. Affiliated with the labor mo ...
, a member of the Retirement Security Advisory Board for the Government Accountability Office, court appointed trustees for the retiree health care trusts for UAW retirees of GM, Ford, and Chrysler and the USW retirees of Goodyear Tire. Ghilarducci won an
Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...
award for her book ''Labor's Capital: The Economics and Politics of Employer Pensions'' in 1992. She previously taught economics for 25 years at the University of Notre Dame.


Education

She obtained a
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in Economics from
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
in 1978. She graduated from there in 1984 with a
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
in Economics.


Career

Ghilarducci is the Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz Professor of Economics at the New School for Social Research in New York City. While a student at UC Berkeley from 1979 to 1983, Ghilarducci was a research assistant at its Institute of Industrial Relations (now it
Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
. She was hired as an Assistant Professor of Economics at the
University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
in 1983; she was promoted to Associate Professor of Economics in 1991. She served as Director of its Higgins Labor Research Center (no
Higgins Labor Studies Program
from 1997 to 2007. It further promoted her to Professor of Economics and Policy Studies on August 22, 2005. She had an In Residence Fellowship at the
Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is a part of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts, a ...
at
Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
from 1987 to 1988. She serves as a public trustee for the health care VEBAs for
United Auto Workers The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico ...
retirees of
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
,
Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
and
Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...
, and
United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headquar ...
retirees of
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturing company founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling and based in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, motorcycles, S ...
. She became a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute in 1994. and is now on the Executive Board. From September 1994 to May 1995, while on leave from Notre Dame, Ghilarducci was Assistant Director of the AFL-CIO's Department of Employee Benefits. She was a participant in th
European Union Visitors Program
from March 20 to April 3, 1995. From 1996 to 2001, she served twice on the advisory board of the
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is a United States federally chartered corporation created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to encourage the continuation and maintenance of voluntary private defined b ...
. Concurrently, from 1996 to 2002, she served on the board of trustees of the
State of Indiana State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
br>Public Employees' Retirement Fund
Ghilarducci was an instructor for
The Century Foundation The Century Foundation (established first as The Cooperative League and then the Twentieth Century Fund) is a progressive think tank headquartered in New York City with an office in Washington, D.C. It was founded as a nonprofit public policy ...
's "Sagner Summer Programs" (apparently the Century Institute) at
Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...
from June 22 to July 2, 1999; from June 23 to July 15, 2000; from July 1 to July 8, 2001; from July 1 to July 8, 2002; and from June 27 to July 6, 2003. She has been a member of the
General Accounting Office The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal govern ...
's Retirement Policy Advisory Panel since 2002. She was a
Wurf WVVO (1140 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Salsa Music format. It is licensed to Orlando, Florida, and is owned by Florida Broadcasters. It addition to its AM signal, WVVO is heard on three FM translators in the Greater Orlando area: 99.5 ...
Fellow a
The Labor and Worklife Program
at
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
from 2007 to 2009. In 2007, Ghilarducci served on the
State of California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
br>Public Employee Post-Employment Benefits Commission
She joined the faculty of The New School in January 2008. In February 2009, she joined
Demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * plural for Demo (computer programming) ...
as a Distinguished Senior Fellow. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the
United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploym ...
, the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
, th
Retirement Research Foundation
the
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
, and the
Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic ( rus, Донецкая Народная Республика, Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika, dɐˈnʲetskəjə nɐˈrodnəjə rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə; abbreviated as DPR or DNR, rus, ДНР) is a Territorial ...
have funded her research. In March, 2022,
Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...
published an editorial by her titled "Inflation Stings Most If You Make Less Than $300k. Here's How to Deal." This article got ratioed on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
since 98% of Americans make less than $300k to the point that Bloomberg turned off the comments. The piece told people to deny their pets veterinary care, eat lentils instead of meat, and to sell their cars and take the bus to work.


Politics

In her book ''When I'm Sixty-Four: The Plot against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them'', Ghilarducci proposed mandatory participation in a government-run savings plan to which each worker and his employer would supplement his Social Security pension by contributing 5.0 percent each of her or his salary. The plan would be administered by the
Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that administers Social Security (United ...
, but would be separate from Social Security records. In turn, a refundable
tax credit A tax credit is a tax incentive which allows certain taxpayers to subtract the amount of the credit they have accrued from the total they owe the state. It may also be a credit granted in recognition of taxes already paid or a form of state "disc ...
of $600 would go to each participant, regardless of his contributions. The account would have a guaranteed interest rate equal to the government's official
inflation rate In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...
plus three percent. Videos of lectures given by her and interviews with her can be found on MySpace and
Orkut Orkut was a social networking service owned and operated by Google. The service was designed to help users meet new and old friends and maintain existing relationships. The website was named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükkökt ...
.


Criticism

In response to her book, ''When I'm Sixty-Four: The Plot against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them'', James Pethokoukis of '' U.S. News & World Report'' jokingly called her ''"the Most Dangerous Woman in America"''. Ghilarducci reported to
Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...
that she was surprised to discover that the label was being applied to her.


Selected works

* ''When I'm Sixty-Four: The Plot against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them''. 384 pages. Princeton University Press (May 18, 2008) * ''Employee Pensions: Policies, Problems, and Possibilities''. 236 pages. ILR Press; 1 edition (August 2007) * ''Work Options for Older Americans''. 488 pages. University of Notre Dame Press; 1 edition (April 1, 2007) * ''Portable Pension Plans for Casual Labor Markets: Lessons from the Operating Engineers Central Pension Fund''. 216 pages. Quorum Books (November 30, 1995) by Teresa Ghilarducci, Garth Mangum, Jeffrey S. Petersen, Peter Philips. * ''Labor's Capital: The Economics and Politics of Private Pensions''. 227 pages. The MIT Press (June 3, 1992)


See also

*
Pensions in the United States Pensions in the United States consist of the Social Security system, public employees retirement systems, as well as various private pension plans offered by employers, insurance companies, and unions. History While various iterations of what co ...
. * Retirement savings account.


Notes


External links


The New School: Faculty: Ghilarducci, Teresa

Economic Policy Institute: Teresa Ghilarducci
(EPI publications authored by her)
United States House of Representatives: Committee on Education and Labor: Saving Retirement in the Face of America’s Credit Crises: Short Term and Long Term Solutions (oral testimony submitted on October 7, 2008 for The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Workers’ Retirement Security)

Annuity Digest: Teresa Ghilarducci on Pension Reform
(contains embedded video) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghilarducci, Teresa 1957 births Living people The New School faculty Place of birth missing (living people) Economists from New York (state) American women economists University of California, Berkeley alumni Center for Economic and Policy Research 21st-century American economists 21st-century American women