Argentinian social security between developmentalism and neoliberalism (1957 ? 1983). Economic theories and economic ideas in its reform proposals and discussions

NICOLÁS DVOSKIN

Montevideo

Workshop; 5th Southern Hemisphere Economic History Summer School; 2015

Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República y Research Institute for Economics, Growth and Development

This paper aims to analyze the economic fundamentals that can be found in the arguments, supports and critics of the most important social security reforms and reform proposals, with a slight emphasis on the elderly insurance, in the second half of the twentieth century in Argentina. The main question that this research project intends to answer is the following: Which were the explicit and implicit theoretical economic concepts included in the different social security reform proposals throughout the Argentinean history? Conceptually, the thesis falls within the field of the history of ideas, more precisely in the field of the history of economic ideas. Taking social security as a case, we intend to inquire about the presence or absence of different economic perspectives (theories, ideas) in the speech and discourse of different sectors and actors involved in the debates on social reform. Therefore, in theoretical terms the thesis aims to combine the notions of "regime veridiction" (Foucault, 1997) and "historical interpretation" (White, 1973) in order to understand which economic concepts are put into play in the period. What can be said, why is it said and how such a speech is built are the central elements of this research. As a major goal, we intend to bring back the argument that, in the case of political history, is defined as a "conceptual history of politics" (Rosanvallon, 2002). Thus, we plan to contribute to a "conceptual history of economics?. As for periods, the research takes as its point of departure the 1957 constitutional reform, in which the main topic of discussion was about social rights, including social security. This constitutional reform also commanded the legislative branch with the sanction of a Social Security Code, so during the next years several projects were introduced in order to accomplish this directive, none of which could finally pass. In the thesis we analyze some of these projects and the way the debate was cancelled ?and no Code was sanctioned-: the introduction of the 1968 pension system reform law, which created a state-managed pay-as-you-go scheme that lasted until the neoliberal reform of 1993. We also include the debates regarding the creation of the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Secretariat of Social Security during the late 60s, its coverage expansion in the early 70s and the incorporation of the social security policies in the social pacts and development programs of 1973 and 1974. Finally, we include the debates regarding the privatization of social security during the late 70s ?which was not approved- and some policies implemented by the last military dictatorship. As a preliminary result, we find a significant change of emphasis in the social security agenda in the long term: first, a shift from a social-rights and social-citizenship concern towards a development-welfare goal and, second, towards a financial-stability and efficiency one. This can be a synthesis of the previously accounted transformation, from a developmentalist consensus to a neoliberal one.