ScholarlyCommons - Alberto Arenas de Mesa, David Bravo, Jere R. Behrman, Olivia S. Mitchell, and Petra Todd: The Chilean Pension Reform Turns 25: Lessons from the Social Protection Survey

PARC Working Papers

Title

The Chilean Pension Reform Turns 25: Lessons from the Social Protection Survey

Author(s)

Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Ministry of Finance of Chile
David Bravo, University of Chile
Jere R. Behrman, University of Pennsylvania
Olivia S. Mitchell, University of Pennsylvania
Petra Todd, University of Pennsylvania

Document Type

Working Paper

Date of this Version

July 2006

Comments

PARC Working Paper Series, No. 04, 2006

Abstract

In 1980, Chile dramatically reformed its retirement system, replacing what was an old insolvent PAYGO program with a new structure that relies heavily on funded defined contribution individual accounts. In addition, eligibility and benefit requirements were standardized, and a safety net for old-age poverty was strengthened. Twenty-five years after this reform, the Chilean model is being re-assessed, in terms of coverage, contribution, investment, and retirement benefit outcomes. This paper introduces a recently-developed longitudinal survey of individual respondents in Chile, the Social Protection Survey (or Encuesta de Previsión Social, EPS), and illustrates some uses of this survey for microeconomic analysis of key aspects of the Chilean system.