The Argentinean counter-reform of the pesion system in 2008
The present dissertation analyzes the process of reversal of the pension reform that took place in Argentina in 2008, to understand the motivators that, after such a short period (14 years) of the inclusion of a capitalized pillar, led to the resumption of the previous model, public and based on mutualism. In 1994, Argentina promoted a structural reform in the social security system, following the guidelines of the World Bank, presented in the report “Averting the Old Age Crisis”, privatizing part of the system and becoming a paradigm to be followed by other Latin American countries, the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe. The belief that the model of individualized accounts would be more sustainable, accompanied by an increase in the pension coverage rate over time and stimulus to the capital market was not confirmed and Argentina, in 2008, promoted the total reversal of the model, resuming the simple pay-as-you-go system, administered by the state. Even though this reversal took place during the 2008 economic crisis, the reversal process brings with it great complexity, involving factors that, in isolation, are not capable of justifying it. This dissertation carries out a bibliographic balance on the subject, involving the main authors of the most important theoretical lines on the processes of social security reform in Latin America: Carlos Grushka, Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Fábio Bernatrou, Joseph Stiglitz, Oscar Cetrángolo, as well as the documentary analysis of the process of legislative approval of the reform, pointing out the motivators of the counter-reform of social security in Argentina that took place in 2008.