Reassembling Social Security: A Survey of Pensions and Health Care Reforms in Latin America - Softcover

Mesa-Lago, Carmelo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199644616 ISBN 13: 9780199644612

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2012

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, heal

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 in Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. He is the author of 82 books/monographs and 275 articles/chapters published in 7 languages in 34 countries, most of them on the Cuban economy and social welfare, as well as in social security. He 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 (ISSA), 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 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, 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:

Review from previous edition: "The very successful career of Carmelo Mesa-Lago has been always characterized by the thoroughness of his arguments and the enormous richness of the empirical evidence he uses to support them. His latest book is the culmination of that scientific effort centered
in promoting more effective and equitable social policies. It offers a demolishing criticism of the [structural] reforms but never falls into simplistic or superficial arguments, presenting instead numerous facets that enrich our understanding of such processes... a monumental work that excels for
its wealth of information, rigor of the proposals, and the very interesting and ambitious research agenda that leaves us for the future"

--Diego Sanchez-Ancochea, America Latina Hoy: Revista de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Salamanca

"This compendious volume by Latin America's most respected social security scholar...is undoubtedly the definitive account of the marketization of pensions and health care in Latin America. It should be consulted not only by Latin American social security scholars but by anyone interested in
issues of social policy, privatization and welfare. The author's painstaking research and wide knowledge and experience of the region has obviously informed this landmark study which objectively and dispassionately demonstrates ['using a wealth of statistical data'] that many claims about the
positive effects of marketization have not been realized...Social security scholars will eagerly await Mesa-Lago's future reports on these developments"

--James Midgley, University of California Berkeley, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare

"Mesa-Lago is an example of a university professor whose vast research has resulted in practical implementation, effectively contributed to the development of several disciplines, [and] significantly advanced the social sciences particularly economics through his valuable studies on poverty
and social security. His works have no epitome Although there is an important literature on the theme of his book, published by international and regional organizations, we needed a comprehensive and comparative study of pension and health care reforms in all Latin American countries. This book
fills that vacuum [and] we are sure that it will stimulate the debate, improve the understanding of the reforms and, above all, lead to better pensions and health care in Latin America"

--Luis Aparicio Valdes, Director Analisis Laboral, Lima,

"Thirty years ago Carmelo Mesa-Lago published his book Social Security in Latin America: Pressure Groups, Stratification and Inequality, fruit of a monumental research effort that open a field virtually absent in the disciplines of economics, sociology and political science in Latin
America...after that pioneering work and a remarkable academic life he gives us another book of colossal dimension Reassembling Social Security: A Survey of Pension and Health Care Reforms in Latin America, devoted to the evaluation of diverse social security reforms in the region, especially in the
last decade"

--Aldo Isuani, Profesor de FLACSO, Nueva Sociedad Buenos Aires

"A meticulous and comprehensive analysis of the pensions and health-care reforms in Latin America [that] 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...[and] allows the questioning of their defenders and detractors. A more than useful contribution to the debate that Latin American societies
must do on social security"

--Silvana Harriett, Cuadernos del CLAEH, Montevideo

"This book is an outstanding achievement. Few could have written a book on welfare reform in Latin America with the depth of knowledge, acute understanding, and easy accessibility that Mesa Lago is able to use to illuminate on this subject. Our understanding of welfare reforms in the region is
in large part due to his work. A wonderful bequest for those researching this area."

--Armando Barrientos, Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester

"This is a unique and updated piece of academic work with a policy oriented approach to Latin American social security issues. Because pensions and health care dominate most of Latin American social policy agenda but also have extremely relevant economic and fiscal consequences, this book is a
must for everyone interested in a comprehensive view of this heterogeneous region. Therefore, the book is a valuable resource for experts on pensions, health care, social security, and Latin America."

--Fabio M. Bertranou, Senior Social Security Specialist, International Labour Organizacion (ILO), Santiago, Chile

"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, MD, DrPh, Director of Global Health, University of Texas-Houston, School of Public Health, and Antonio Ugalde, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of Texas-Austin, Department of Sociology

"This book is an elegant and well-researched tour-de-force of Latin American pension and health reforms and their impacts. Drawing on five decades of work on social security systems in Latin America, Carmelo 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

"This comprehensive volume is written by the most knowledgeable expert on Latin American pension and health care issues, a long-standing observer of social policy making on the subcontinent. His razor-sharp analysis and recommendations deserve many readers in Latin America and beyond."

--Dr. Katharina Mueller, Professor of Social Policy, Mannheim University of Applied Sciences

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0199644616
• ISBN 13: 9780199644612
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 480