THE STRUCTURAL PENSION REFORM IN LATIN AMERICA: COMPARATIVE DESCRIPTION AND EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE, TESTING OF ASSUMPTIONS, AND LESSONS

Subject Social and economic inequality. Significance After its progress in reducing poverty, highlighted by a recent report of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Chile faces the complex and socially divisive challenge of tackling its deep-rooted economic and social inequalities. Impacts The key problem in addressing poverty will be its concentration in specific groups of the population. Some of the government’s planned reforms, such as pension reform, would help to improve income distribution. The outcome of the government’s Country Undertaking initiative will depend on its ability to implement the resulting ideas.

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Are Old-age Pension System Reforms Moving Away from Individual Retirement Accounts in Latin America?

Journal of Social Policy ◽

10.1017/s0047279409990663 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 223-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

ESTEBAN CALVO ◽

FABIO M. BERTRANOU ◽

EVELINA BERTRANOU

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Old Age ◽

Latin American ◽

Poverty Reduction ◽

Pension System ◽

Pension Reform ◽

Pension Policy ◽

Individual Retirement Accounts ◽

New Politics ◽

Retirement Accounts

AbstractThis article reviews two rounds of pension reform in ten Latin American countries to determine whether they are moving away from individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Although the idea is provocative, we conclude that the notion of ‘moving away from IRAs’ is insufficient to characterise the new politics of pension reform. As opposed to the politics of enactment of IRAs of the late twentieth century, pension reform in Latin America in recent years has combined significant revival of public components in old-age income maintenance with improvement of IRAs. Clearly, the policy prescriptions that were most influential during the first round of reforms in Latin America have been re-evaluated. The World Bank and other organisations that promoted IRAs have recognised that pension reform should pay more attention to poverty reduction, coverage and equity, and to protect participants from market risks. The experience and challenges faced by countries that introduced IRAs, the changes in policies by international financing institutions, and the recent financial volatility and heavy losses experienced in financial markets may have tempered the enthusiasm of other countries from applying the same type of reforms. Scholars and policy-makers around the globe could benefit from looking closely at these changes in pension policy.

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The Politics of Pension Reform in Latin America

Journal of Latin American Studies ◽

10.1017/s0022216x02006454 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 687-715 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

CARMELO MESA-LAGO ◽

KATHARINA MÜLLER

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Pension Reform ◽

Political Process ◽

Political Regime ◽

The Political ◽

Key Factors ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Political Actors ◽

Explanatory Variables ◽

Legal Constraints

Latin America has been a world pioneer of neoliberal, structural reform of social security pensions (‘privatisation’). This article focuses on the diverse political economy circumstances that enabled such reform, analysing why policy makers have chosen such a costly strategy and how they have managed to implement it. First, in nine countries with diverse regimes (authoritarian and democratic) it examines the internal political process that led to the adoption of reform. There tends to be an inverse relationship between the degree of democratisation and that of privatisation, but the political regime alone cannot fully explain the reform outcomes in all cases. To expand the search for explanatory variables, other key factors that might have influenced the reform design are studied, among them relevant political actors (driving and opposing forces), existing institutional arrangements, legal constraints, internal and external economics and policy legacy.

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‘Estafa’: Dictatorship, debt, weapons and pensions in Argentina—An alternative perspective on pension ‘reform’ in Latin America

Pensions An International Journal ◽

10.1057/palgrave.pm.5950060 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 199-205 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Richard Minns

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Pension Reform ◽

Alternative Perspective

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Business Interests, Conservative Economists, and the Expansion of Noncontributory Pensions in Latin America

Politics & Society ◽

10.1177/0032329220952269 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 003232922095226 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tim Dorlach

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Detailed Analysis ◽

Latin American ◽

Pension Reform ◽

Pension Policy ◽

Business Interests ◽

Incentive Compatible ◽

Private Providers ◽

Conservative Policy ◽

Latin American Countries

Since the 1990s, most Latin American countries have significantly expanded noncontributory pension programs. In explaining this wave of expansion, research has focused on the protagonism of left parties and social movements and on electoral competition, generally disregarding the roles of organized business and conservative policy experts. This article demonstrates, through a detailed analysis of Chile’s 2008 noncontributory pension reform, that conservative economists played active roles in formulating a noncontributory pension policy characterized by moderate, targeted, and “incentive-compatible” benefits and financed by the general budget. The conservative design of the program facilitated broad support from employers and private pension funds, critical for the eventual passage of the reform. The analysis illustrates the need to incorporate business interests into explanations of welfare state reforms in Latin America and the broader Global South, in particular by distinguishing the interests of employers and private providers and by focusing on their interaction with conservative policy experts.

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