40 years … A sufficient period of time to be able to evaluate the great promises made when structural pensions reforms were introduced replacing public pay-as-you-go (PAYG) systems, many times in crisis. Evidence is not optimistic, at least not from the perspective of most of the private system “clients”. Clearly, the introduction of private systems has defined winners and losers.
Discontent is growing; therefore, several countries conducted re-reforms or
are discussing them, aimed at cushioning the effects of the logic of their operation in an environment of social segregation based on the labor market and on the concentration of income that translates directly into insufficient old-age pensions for the great majority of people.
In this monograph, Mesa Lago gathers evidence on the performance of private pension systems and—based on the promises of their defenders in the
nine Latin American countries that adopted these systems—he evaluates the
results of the re-reforms in four countries and the current reform proposals in
another two, as well as the situation of the largest PAYG system on the continent. Based on the conclusions of this analysis, he presents a series of recommendations with a flexible approach, and not from a single model approach,
for a reform that meets the criteria of social security and justice.

Read the report