Paper short abstract:

The re-reforms of pension systems in Latin America are shifting the trajectory towards an advanced universalism, with greater coverage, generosity and equity. However, there are challenges about long-term sustainability of these reforms in terms of funding and political support.

Paper long abstract:

The construction of social protection systems in Latin America has been profoundly influenced by the minimalist approach that many governments adopted after the debt crisis. However, with the new democracies, governments increased social investment and began to implement innovative social protection polices oriented to lowering the high levels of poverty and inequality. In particular, these new trends on public policies are interesting evidence about how universalism is being growingly attractive to governments and is the main drivers of policy reforms. Then, the article presents a literature review of the concept of universalism, based on the contributions of Anttonen (2002), Anttonen et.al (2012), Anttonen and Sipilä (2014), Martínez-Franzoni and Sánchez-Ancochea (2014; 2016), Filgueira (2006; 2014), and Pribble (2013), and how it is having a practical impact on the design and implementation of new pension systems to improve the achievement of economic security in elderly. This is important because the region is facing a population aging, a rise on life expectancy, and they did not take advantage, properly, of the demographic bonus. Since the mid-2000s, Latin America started a new wave of legislation on pension re-reforms to fulfill the deficit of private pension schemes. These private systems were created after the Chilean reform of 1981 that was followed by the rest of the region during the mid and late 1990s. Finally, the article attempts to establish the main challenges for the region on the incorporation of universalistic approaches on the recent pension re-reforms.