A Comparison of the Reagan and Thatcher Administrations' Efforts to Reform Social Security in the United States and the United Kingdom

Abstract

A comparison is made between the records of the Reagan and Thatcher administrations in their efforts to reform, respectively, the social security program in the United States and the retirement pension program in the United Kingdom. It is found that the Reagan administration was much less successful in attaining its reform agenda than was the Thatcher government. The discrepancies in the records of the two administrations were traced to four central factors: (1) the reform strategy of the two governments; (2) the strength of the elderly lobby in the two countries; (3) the legacy of past policy; (4) institutional structure.