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The Impact of Colombia's Pension and Health Insurance Systems on Informality

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  • Calderón, Valentina
  • Marinescu, Ioana

Abstract

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 imposing the requirement to use the same base income to contribute to both health insurance and pensions for independent workers using a difference-in-differences strategy. Second, this document addresses the effects of unifying health and pension system payments, which required employers to make contributions to these two plans through a unified payment system, making it more difficult to contribute differently to the one plan versus the other. The results presented in this paper suggest that this reform increased both full formality and full informality, but with larger positive effects on full formality.

Suggested Citation

  • Calderón, Valentina & Marinescu, Ioana, 2011. "The Impact of Colombia's Pension and Health Insurance Systems on Informality," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 3831, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:3831
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Maloney, William F., 2004. "Informality Revisited," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1159-1178, July.
    2. Kugler, Adriana & Kugler, Maurice, 2003. "The Labor Market Effects of Payroll Taxes in a Middle-Income Country: Evidence from Colombia," IZA Discussion Papers 852, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Carmen Pages & Lucia Madrigal, 2008. "Is Informality a Good Measure of Job Quality? Evidence from Job Satisfaction Data," Research Department Publications 4603, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    4. Loayza, Norman V., 1996. "The economics of the informal sector: a simple model and some empirical evidence from Latin America," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 129-162, December.
    5. Sebastian Galiani & Federico Weinschelbaum, 2012. "Modeling Informality Formally: Households And Firms," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 50(3), pages 821-838, July.
    6. Adriana Camacho & Emily Conover & Alejandro Hoyos, 2014. "Effects of Colombia's Social Protection System on Workers' Choice between Formal and Informal Employment," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(3), pages 446-466.
    7. Oecd, 2009. "Employment and Social Protection," OECD Journal on Development, OECD Publishing, vol. 9(4), pages 7-54.
    8. Guillermo E. Perry & William F. Maloney & Omar S. Arias & Pablo Fajnzylber & Andrew D. Mason & Jaime Saavedra-Chanduvi, 2007. "Informality : Exit and Exclusion," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6730, December.
    9. Maloney, William F, 1999. "Does Informality Imply Segmentation in Urban Labor Markets? Evidence from Sectoral Transitions in Mexico," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 13(2), pages 275-302, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Darwin Cortés & Darío Maldonado & Giselle Vesga, 2015. "Parametric Pension Reform and the Intensive Margin of Labor Supply, Evidence from Colombia," Documentos de Trabajo 12476, Universidad del Rosario.
    2. Tobias Pfutze & Carlos Rodríguez-Castelán, 2019. "Can a Small Social Pension Promote Labor Force Participation? Evidence from the Colombia Mayor Program," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2019), pages 111-154, October.
    3. Adriana Camacho & Emily Conover & Alejandro Hoyos, 2014. "Effects of Colombia's Social Protection System on Workers' Choice between Formal and Informal Employment," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(3), pages 446-466.
    4. Peña, Ximena., 2013. "The formal and informal sectors in Colombia : country case study on labour market segmentation," ILO Working Papers 994820883402676, International Labour Organization.
    5. Edwin A. Goñi Pacchioni, 2013. "Andemic Informality: Assessing Labor Informality, Employment and Income Risk in the Andes," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 82329 edited by Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), February.
    6. repec:idb:brikps:461 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Goñi Pacchioni, Edwin A., 2013. "Andemic Informality: Assessing Labor Informality, Employment and Income Risk in the Andes," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 461.
    8. Carla Canelas & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, 2022. "Informality and Pension Reforms in Bolivia: The Case of Renta Dignidad," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(7), pages 1436-1458, July.
    9. Azuara, Oliver & Marinescu, Ioana, 2013. "Informality and the expansion of social protection programs: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 938-950.
    10. Luis E. Arango & Luz A. Flórez, 2017. "Informalidad laboral y elementos para un salario mínimo diferencial por regiones en Colombia," Borradores de Economia 1023, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    11. David A. Hurtado & Philipp Hessel & Mauricio Avendano, 2017. "The hidden costs of informal work: lack of social protection and subjective well-being in Colombia," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 62(2), pages 187-196, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social Security; Informal Sector; Pensions; Health Insurance; Social Protection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

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