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Jeff Brown Profile picture
Jeff Brown
@IlliniBizDean
Democratizing education as Illinois Gies Business Dean. Economist. Loves family, mountains, dark chocolate, and all things Illini. .
Sep 2, 2021 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
A quick thread about an aspect of Illinois public pensions that shows how messed up the system has become due to decades of underfunding.

Many SURS pensioners retired using the (since eliminated) money purchase calculation of the traditional DB plan. Not uncommon to retire at 60 Because of the use of an inappropriately high interest rate, the money purchase option often led to people hitting max allowable pension of 80% of their highest 4-years of salary after 30 years of work.

Some folks earning $100k could retire at 60 and earn $80k. That’s not all!
Sep 1, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
How old will you be in 13 years?

That's when Social Security trust funds will be insolvent.

Why should you care? Because at that point, Social Security will no longer be able to pay full benefits unless taxes are increased.

Unless Congress acts.

ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/ind… Let me be clear: this is not news. Experts, Presidential Commissions, the CBO, and the SSA Actuaries have all been reporting this for decades. We also know the set of policy options for fixing it.

What we have been missing for all those decades is the political will.
Sep 7, 2020 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
1 The tweet below from the amazing @itsafronomics inspired me to write a short thread on the subject of university endowments and how they can or cannot be used. Here goes. 2 Roughly speaking, one can think of philanthropic gifts to universities being categorized along two dimensions. Unrestricted v. restricted in how it can be used. And current use v. endowment.
Jul 12, 2020 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
For 52 years, I’ve lived as a white male in a society largely built by and for people who look like me.

One thing I never learned to talk about in all those years is race. Not in a meanginful way. It was “impolite” or even risky. Just treat individuals with dignity, I thought. But that’s not good enough.

So I’m going to share one thought today about the term “white privilege” and what it means - or importantly, what it does not mean - for me.
Aug 1, 2018 • 21 tweets • 6 min read
When the government announces that it intends to run a budget deficit, it’s announcing that it doesn’t intend to make current generation pay for the full cost of government, thus shifting burden to future generations, via higher future taxes, lower future spending, or inflation. Folks are asking for papers to support my view. There are hundreds (thousands?) dating back decades. I will point out a tiny fraction of them below.
Aug 1, 2018 • 19 tweets • 4 min read
1 Making use of time on airplane, this thread is meant as a (non-partisan) discussion of capital gains taxation, in light of President Trump’s interest in indexing capital gains to inflation.
marketwatch.com/story/heres-wh… 2 First, what does it mean to index capital gains? If you buy an, sell it 10 years later at $150, today you pay cap gains tax on the $50 increase. Under indexation, you would pay tax only on the $25 of gain over and above inflation. A tax cut.