I’m a great admirer of AEI’s contribution to the Peterson Solutions Initiative, which I’ve discussed in this space a number of times. I just noticed that Andrew Biggs wrote a short (and very collegial) column for The American comparing the AEI proposal to that of the Heritage Foundation, focused on the role of means-testing in Social Security and Medicare. His basic argument, which I find convincing, is that Heritage is more optimistic about the efficacy of means-testing because it doesn’t give due regard to the incentive effect on older workers. I recommend the piece as an excellent introduction to the pitfalls of means-testing old-age social insurance programs. As Biggs notes, there is “interesting research finding that older individuals are particularly sensitive to marginal rates, because unlike others they have the option of retiring. If people stop working then they won’t get the income and the government won’t get the spending reductions.” And so savings projected under a static analysis might not materialize.