Where next with pension policy change in Latin America? Comparative insights from Chile and Uruguay

Since the mid-2000s, Latin American countries have been re-reforming their pension systems to address the issue of low coverage and low future pensions. Chile and Uruguay, pioneers of social protection in the region, show diverging policy change outcomes. While Uruguay has implemented a series of reforms aiming at strengthening the private and the public pillars, Chile, notwithstanding a significant reform in 2008, has been debating significant change entailing possible more involvement of the state in pension provision and has recently adopted a reform that will challenge the dominance of the private pillar. We argue that the political institutional setting and the legacy of the pension system (both in terms of its design and performance) are key to understanding this diverging path. We contend that our analysis provides a useful framework to understand pension policy (re-)reforms in other countries in the region and thus contributes to the pension and policy continuity and change literature.