Reassembling Social Security
A Survey of Pensions and Health Care Reforms in Latin America
Published on 31. January 2008
Book
Hardback
480 pages
978-0-19-923377-9 (ISBN)
Description
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.
Published in association with PAHO
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.
Published in association with PAHO
Reviews / Votes
an invaluable source of information on specific programs, country by country, and on the positions and roles of various international organizations. * Joan M. Nelson, Latin American Research Review * A treasure trove that marries an analytical approach with deep, wide-ranging and long-standing understanding of country experiences. A must have for anyone interested in the tortuous path of social security reforms in Latin America and an up-to-date assessment of their outcomes. * Nicholas Barr, Professor of Public Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science * This book is an elegant and well-researched tour-de-force of Latin American pension and health care reforms and their impacts. Drawing on five decades of work on social security systems in the region, Mesa-Lago bridges the gap between pensions and health care through a cross-cutting analysis of vexing policy issues. This book will become an invaluable asset for all those grappling with the complexities of social policies in Latin America * Gerard M. La Forgia, Lead Health Specialist, World Bank, * Without a doubt, Dr. Mesa-Lago's study is the most comprehensive, critical and accurate account of the evolution of social security systems-including an impact evaluation of recent reforms-in the 20 Latin American countries. A must read for policy-makers and scholars interested in social security systems * Nuria Homedes, Director of Global Health, School of Public Health, University of Texas-Houston, and Antonio Ugalde, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Texas-Austin * Carmelo Mesa-Lago is one of the masters on economics of social security in Latin America. In the last three decades, his ideas, books and accurate papers had influenced many generations of social economists and policy makers in every country of the region. This book is a new masterpiece that will contribute to update the knowledge about the achievements and challenges of the last generation of reforms on social security in Latin America * Andre Medici, Senior Social Development Specialist, Inter American Development Bank * This outstanding book presents a complete and systematic comparison of pension and healthcare reforms in all twenty countries of Latin America the issues are addressed in a scholarly fashion and supported with solid data, balancing the positive and negative aspects of the reforms and identifying advantages and disadvantages of public and private systems to correct flaws of both and improve all types of systems and reforms * International Social Security Review, Abstract, Geneva, * This book is particularly important at a time of...international financial meltdown...With its didactic presentation and quasi-encyclopedic coverage of over two-and-a-half decades of pensions and health-care reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean, it provides a precious tool for policy makers and social partners...The balanced and clear presentation of different reform models in their socioeconomic and historical contexts and future potential, [makes] this book an indispensable tool for understanding the basic and highly complex issues of welfare reform * Hedva Sarfati, Former Director Dept. of Industrial Relations ILO, International Labour Review * This book is a tour de force by the maestro of social security systems in Latin America an invaluable source for students in the region The book's comprehensiveness and excellent organization makes it of great value for policymakers and researchers in the region and other parts of the world who are considering reforming their pension and health systems * Juan Yermo, OECD, Journal of Pension Economics & Finance, * After more than 40 years of deep and extensive work on social security issues across the entire Latin American region, ['the enormous task of collecting information on 20 countries since the 1970s' to date], Mesa-Lago has completed this comprehensive book...a 'must' reference for anyone, particularly policy-makers...and a valuable book for any university course on Latin American social policy or economic development...an extremely useful research resource to help understand social policy-making and the effectiveness of it. * Fabio Bertranou, Senior Social Security Specialist ILO, International Social Security Review, Geneva * Over the last four decades Carmelo Mesa-Lago has been the most consistently authoritative analyst of social security in Latin America. [His new] book provides a comprehensive and masterly account of pension and health care reforms, reflecting the attributes one has come to expect from the author's work: depth of knowledge, acute understanding and easy accessibility... [its is] the definitive study on social security reforms in the region... This important book will find a wide readership, among specialists, researchers, practitioners and students * Armando Barrientos, Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester, Journal of Latin American Studies, * This book presents the results of Mesa-Lago's studies over a 50-year period of social policy in the 20 countries in Latin America...Detailed and strict selection of data supports his voluminous analysis on social security pensions and healthcare reforms in the region that surpasses all his previous works...He goes further in providing a comprehensive, comparative and substantive academic evaluation of [such] reforms with the same theoretical framework. * Kanako Yamaoka, Institute of Developing Economies, Journal of Developing Economies, Tokyo * Mesa-Lago's new volume represents the essence of his life's work in the area of social policy... [His] insightful and compact analysis-that this review could only touch upon-is a must-read, not only for scholars of Latin American social policy...Oxford University Press should consider a paperback edition which would support the author's main concern: to convince many readers that a comprehensive, unified and equitable social security system need not remain a utopia in Latin America and elsewhere * Katharina Mueller, Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, Germany, Peripherie * This book is a tour de force. * Cambridge Journals: PCR *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 250 mm
Width: 175 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
1000 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-923377-9 (9780199233779)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Carmelo Mesa-Lago
Reassembling Social Security
A Survey of Pensions and Health Care Reforms in Latin America
Book
03/2012
Oxford University Press
€112.66
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
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 or researcher in Argentina, Germany, Mexico, Spain, Uruguay, United Kingdom and the United States, as well as a lecturer in 36 countries in Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. He is the author of 73 books/monographs and about 240 articles/chapters published in 8 languages in 33 countries, most of them on social security including pensions and healthcare. He has worked in all Latin America countries and several in the Caribbean, as well as in Germany, Egypt, Ghana and Thailand, as a regional advisor for ECLAC, a consultant with the ILO, the International Social Security Association (ISSA), PAHO, UNRISD, UNDP and other U.N. branches, as well as most international financial organizations (World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank), national and foreign foundations.
Content
PART I: THE STATE OF PENSION AND HEALTH CARE IN THE REGION BEFORE THE REFORMS ; PART II: PENSION REFORMS AND THEIR EFFECTS ; PART III: HEALTH CARE REFORMS AND THEIR EFFECTS ; PART IV: TOWARDS A BETTER SOCIAL SECURITY IN THE FUTURE