This book focuses on experiences with and lessons learned from the sweeping reforms to the pension systems of Latin America and the Caribbean during the 1990s and early 2000s, which shifted the burden of old-age security from the public to the private sector. The book's main objective is to...

This book focuses on experiences with and lessons learned from the sweeping reforms to the pension systems of Latin America and the Caribbean during the 1990s and early 2000s, which shifted the burden of old-age security from the public to the private sector. The book's main objective is to...

Neste continente, os efeitos negativos das reformas liberais afetaram substancialmente o precário equilíbrio de boa parte das economias nacionais e do tecido social. A necessidade de construção de um novo equilíbrio social, que faça avançar o desenvolvimento dos países, está claramente...

Mexico has a relatively large informal sector by OECD standards. While this is in part a symptom of limited development and low productivity, it can also be to some extent its cause, as informal firms stay small to hide their activities and have limited access to productivity-enhancing...

This paper examines how changes in the legislation governing health and pension benefits that took place between 2003 and 2008 in Colombia affected the informal and formal labor markets. In particular, this paper examines two major changes in the legislation. First, it looks at the effects of...

This paper examines how a universal social insurance program proposed for Mexico can respond to cyclical variations in revenue while remaining selffinancing. More specifically, it discusses the issues involved in setting up a stabilization fund that can accumulate surpluses when revenue is...

While decreasing inequality is generally considered desirable, and there is a growing understanding of which policies do and do not promote equality, much less is known regarding why these policies are adopted to varying degrees of intensity in different times and places. To explain this...

This paper surveys gender and ethnic wage gaps in 18 Latin American countries, decomposing differences using matching comparisons as a non-parametric alternative to the Blinder-Oaxaca (BO) decomposition. It is found that men earn 9-27 percent more than women, with high cross-country...

With gross government debt surpassing 200% of GDP, Japan’s fiscal situation is in uncharted territory. In addition to robust nominal GDP growth, correcting two decades of budget deficits requires a large and sustained fiscal consolidation based on a detailed and credible multi-year plan that...