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, health care, and public policy; Social security, pension, and health care policy-makers; And social security, pension, and health care consultants and practitioners. Published in association with PAHO

This book systematically reviews the development of social policy since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. As such, it begins by investigating the establishment of the Insurance System in the early period, then moves on to the planned economy period, the Cultural Revolution period, and the Reform and Opening Up period, characterized by efforts to adapt to a market economy. For each period, the book examines the effect of the economic system, the mode of production and forms of employment for social policy design, so as to clarify the developing context of Chinese social policy, and to help readers grasp the legal aspects of social policy development and the main problems China faces in its present economic developmental stage.

Annotation World Bank Discussion Paper No. 335. Presents the proceedings of a high-level international symposium on Chinese state-owned enterprise reform held in Beijing, China, June 1995. This report includes five policy option papers presented by Chinese officials and one presented by the World Bank Group that makes recommendations for reform on the basis of the Group's international experience in this area.