From Right to Reality: Incentives, Labor Markets, and the Challenge of Universal Social Protection in Latin America and the Caribbean

This book is available directly from the publisher: Edicioners Gondo Maese Nicolas 9, 45224 Sesena, Toledo http://www.edicionesgondo.com/

'Welcome realism and breadth, emphasizing that poverty relief, insurance, and consumption smoothing all matter; that the system must be effective in terms of the level and coverage of benefits; and that close attention needs to be paid to the incentive effects of benefits and the way they are financed.' --NICHOLAS BARR, Professor of Public Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science

'This stimulating book calls for rethinking how savings, risk-pooling, and redistributive arrangements are designed and coordinated within Bismarckian social insurance systems. The authors show convincingly that current programs are not well adapted to labor markets with large informal sectors. They make a compelling case to move to systems that link individual contributions to benefits. They rely on explicit redistributive arrangements to protect low income workers and their families who would be financed through general revenues. A strong contribution to the debate and a must-read for researchers and policy makers.' --KLAUS F. ZIMMERMANN, Director, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)