The Urban Institute’s Dynamic Simulation of Income Model 4 (DYNASIM4) allows Urban experts to examine how a host of financial security, health, and wealth-building issues will affect the US population over time. From showing how changes to Social Security and rising health care costs will affect retirees’ savings to projecting how baby bonds programs might reduce racial wealth disparities, DYNASIM4 delivers insights to help decisionmakers develop policies that promote a more prosperous society.

Using the best and most recent data available, DYNASIM4 is one of only a few models in the world that can help determine how social, economic, and demographic shifts will likely affect older adults, taxpayers, businesses, and governments. The model can also show how outcomes would likely evolve under changes to public policies, business practices, or individual behaviors. And, unlike other models, DYNASIM4 can produce distributional results that illustrate the effects of policies across different segments of the population. To get started, read the DYNASIM primer and review our DYNASIM documentation. Questions about DYNASIM? Contact us. 

Interactive DYNASIM projects and exploration tools

Urban’s exploratory data and visualization tools enable stakeholders to explore and better understand retirement policy and the Social Security system. You can explore detailed tabulations of the US future population through 2065 or use these interactive tools to explore different Social Security and retirement policy options.

• The fiscal health of Social Security
  The Social Security trustees estimate that by the mid-2030s, the system will no longer be able to pay all scheduled benefits. Which reforms should policymakers pursue to help balance the system? In this interactive tool,  explore how the Social Security trust funds would fare over time under different reforms.
• Social Security reform: Impacts on current and future older Americans
  Millions of older Americans rely on old-age Social Security benefits for retirement, and many more are counting on these benefits for the future. Use this interactive tool [VG2] to compare how Social Security reforms would affect current and future older Americans over time by sex, education, race or ethnicity, marital status, income, and work history.
• The distribution of Social Security reform
  Social Security reform affects low-, middle-, and high-income retirees differently. Use this interactive tool to explore the effects of Social Security reforms across the income and wealth distributions for current and future older Americans from 2015 to 2065.
• The distribution of defined-contribution pension reform
  Defined-contribution pensions are an important source of retirement savings for future older Americans. How can more Americans access the benefits of defined-contribution pensions and better prepare for retirement? Use this interactive tool to explore the effects of defined-contribution pension reforms across the income and wealth distributions for current and future retirees from 2015 to 2065.
• Validating DYNASIM
  Long-run projections are sensitive to small changes in data and assumptions. Use this interactive tool to compare changes in DYNASIM's assumptions for defined-contribution pensions with data from the Health and Retirement Study, Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Survey of Consumer Finances, and Survey of Income and Program Participation.
• Social Security reform: Detailed income distributions
  Social Security reform affects different parts of the income distribution in different ways. Use this interactive tool to explore the effects of Social Security reforms across the detailed income distribution from 2015 to 2065.