Reassembling Social Security: A Survey of Pensions and Health Care Reforms in Latin AmericaPublished in association with the Pan-American Health Organization - Hardcover

Mesa-Lago, Carmelo

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199233772 ISBN 13: 9780199233779

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2008

Synopsis

The reform of social security pensions and healthcare is a key issue for the modern world, and in many ways Latin America has acted as a social laboratory for the reform of these systems. From the reforms that took place in Chile in 1981, most pension and health care systems in the region have seen reform, and been fully or partially privatized. Many other countries considering reform of their own systems have been influenced by the policies implemented in Latin America.

Yet despite the importance and influence of these reforms, until now there has not been an integrated and comprehensive analysis of the changes and their effects. This book is the result of four years of painstaking work, data collection, field research and international collaboration, and so fills the vacuum in the literature with a systematic comparison of pension and healthcare reforms in the 20 Latin American countries.

It identifies reform models, and elaborates taxonomies to facilitate their understanding and comparison. Some key features of the reforms to emerge are: labour force and population coverage, equity and solidarity, sufficiency and quality of benefits, state regulation, competition and degree of privatization, efficiency and administrative costs, social participation in management, financing sources and long-term sustainability. Effects of the reforms on social security principles are measured based on recent standardized statistics and other information. Goals or assumptions of the reforms are contrasted with actual outcomes, and the pros and cons of private versus private provision assessed. Detailed policy recommendations are offered to correct current problems and improve pension and healthcare systems.

This is the first book to comprehensively study these influential reforms in Latin America's pension and health care systems, and as such will be of importance to academics and researchers interested in social security and welfare policy, pensions, health care, and public policy; Social security, pension, and health care policy-makers; And social security, pension, and health care consultants and practitioners.

About this title

About the Author

Carmelo Mesa-Lago is Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics and Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh and has been a visiting professor, researcher or lecturer in 40 countries. He is the author of 82 books and 275 articles/chapters published in seven languages in 34 countries; his most recent is Reassembling Social Security: A Survey of Pension and Healthcare Reforms in Latin America (Oxford University Press, 2008). Mesa-Lago has worked in all Latin American countries and several in the Caribbean, as well as in Germany, Egypt, Ghana, Philippines and Thailand, as a regional advisor for ECLAC, a consultant with the ILO, the International Social Security Association, PAHO, UNRISD, UNDP, and other U.N. branches, as well as most international financial organizations (World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank), and national and foreign foundations. A former President of the Latin American Studies Association, he has been awarded: the inaugural ILO International Prize on Decent Work  (shared with Nelson Mandela), the Alexander Von Humbolt Stiftung Senior Prize and collaborative research grants, two Fulbright Senior Awards, Arthur Whitaker and Hoover Institution Prizes, University of Pittsburgh Senior Research Prize, Annual Recognition from the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, homage from OISS and CISS (for life work on social security), homage from the Institute of Cuban Studies and journal Encuentro (for life work on Cuba), and finalist in Spain's Prince of Asturias Prize on Social Sciences. He is a Member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and of editorial boards of seven academic journals, and has received grants from the Ford, Heinz, Kellogg, Mellon, Reynolds, Rockefeller, Tinker and Inter-American Foundations, SSRC, NSF,  Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung, Japan Foundation and US-Spain Commission for Academic Exchange. Choice have selected several of his books as "outstanding."

Review

"Mesa-Lago offers a magisterial survey of reforms in pensions and health care since the 1990s that covers most countries in the region. Is encyclopedic, an invaluable source of information on specific programs, country by country and on the positions and roles of the various international organizations. An important contribution is the clear and detailed discussion of concepts, definitions, and data in the many dimensions of pension and health systems." (Joan M. Nelson, Woodrow Wilson Center, Latin American Research Review, 2011).

"This book  is the quintessence of Mesa-Lago's research over 40 years on social security  in Latin America, combining a systematic study of concepts and principles with the solution to existing inequalities in access and protection. He convincingly succeeds in making comparable and understanding the various systems despite their complexity, all the lessons and challenges, for the benefit of a wide circle of readers interested in sociopolitical issues" (Eva María Hohnerlein,  Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Arbeits- Sozialrecht, 2009).

"If you study or are interested in Latin American social security, this book must be in your library... it is monumental, comprehensive, rigorous, detailed and complete thus making it of unavoidable consultation and discussion" (Juliana Martínez Franzoni, Revista Centroamericana de Ciencias Sociales, 2009).

"A meticulous and comprehensive analysis of the pensions and health-care reforms in Latin America, which combines a detailed study of countries and the elaboration of taxonomies that contribute to the conceptualization and understanding of said reforms within a global framework... a monumental effort that illuminates the specificities and prevents against the risk of easy simplification in the evaluation of the nature and effects of the reforms (Silvana Harriett, Cuadernos del CLAEH, 2009).

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0199233772
• ISBN 13: 9780199233779
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 480