Assessing Implicit Redistribution within Social Security Systems: The Case of Argentina

PEDRO E. MONCARZ

Boston

Congreso; 32nd General Conference of The International Association for Research in Income and Wealth; 2012

The International Association for Research in Income and Wealth

We assess redistribution in the Argentinean pension and unemployment insurance programs on a lifetime basis. Using household surveys, we simulate lifetime declared labor income and flows of contributions and benefits, and compute the expected present values of income and net flows. We find that the PAYG-DB system in Argentina appears to be regressive, specially in the case of women working in the private sector. Under an alternative scenario that assume a weak enforcement of the law and different discount rates, the results change and the system becomes less regressive or even slightly progressive.