THE REFORM OF THE CHILEAN PENSION SYSTEM OF 2008: FOUNDATIONS AND HISTORY
Name: MIRELLA JANUÁRIO MAGIONI
Publication date: 30/11/2018
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| JEANE ANDRÉIA FERRAZ SILVA | Internal Examiner * |
| SILVIA NEVES SALAZAR | Internal Examiner * |
Summary: Latin America was the scene of important transformations of economic and social order during the 1980s and 1990s. These transformations are related to the process of exhaustion of the national development model that existed between the 1930s and 1980s in the continent, and also in in the last instance, with the crisis of the capitalist system of the 1970s, which called into question the regime of Fordist accumulation and state interventionism in the economy and social policies. In this sense, Chile was the first country to adopt the neoliberal principles, among them the substitution of the simple distribution system by the individual capitalization system. The justification of the Pinochet government for the reform was based on the difficulty of financing the pay-as-you-go system and the low pension levels offered there. The introduction of the private system has generated many predictable gaps because many workers could not contribute the required 20 years due to the increase in unemployment, which generated an army of workers unprotected in old age. All these issues led the Chilean government, led by Michele Bachelet in 2006, to discuss further reforms aimed at including the
uncovered workers. In 2008, Law 20,255 was approved, which among other things created the pillar of solidarity, a type of non-contributory benefit focused on the poorest groups, without, however, changing the pension fund market model. It is concluded that the reform of the Chilean Pension System in 2008 constituted a way of adapting / updating the principles instituted in 1981 to social needs before the agitation of the contradictions of the capitalist system in the last three decades in the country. In response to these contradictions, reforms were instituted that updated neoliberal principles based on the establishment of a focused social policy to serve the poorer segments of the population.
