Pension reform in Latin America: Distributional principles, inequalities and alternative policy options

ARZA, CAMILA

JOURNAL OF LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES

Cambridge University Press

Año: 2008

0022-216X

During the 1990s a wave of major structural reforms that changed thedistributional principles underpinning pension policies spread acrossLatin America.Outcomes were not always as expected. The implementation of new pensionrules inthe socio-economic, political and institutional context of Latin Americahas resultedin a number of inequalities which affect pension system performance andthe gainsthat different income groups and generations may obtain. In order toovercome thedistributional drawbacks of reform, Latin American governments may needto afforda new role to non-contributive pensions, as well as consider theapplication ofspecific regulatory adjustments to reduce the risks and inequalitiesinvolved in theprivate pillar. Cross-border policy learning may provide useful tools toachieve theseaims.