Pension Reform in Latin America

Pension reform has become a key issue in Latin America. Demographic changes and economic liberalization have given pension reform special prominence in the region. The model for pension reform has been Chile's 1981 replacement of pay-as-you-go social insurance funds with privately provided personal pension plans. This was heralded as a radical and innovative response to the financial and demographic problems affecting pension schemes. In the 1990s, Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay have implemented pension reforms which borrow from the Chilean Personal Pension Scheme. These changes will have significant implications for future retirement income, the operation of financial and labour markets, and economic development. This book presents an analysis of the Chilean pension reform, and its spread to other Latin American countries, yielding lessons for pension reform in developed and developing countries.