June 2019

Trends in health and retirement in Latin America: Are older workers healthy enough to extend their working lives?

By Laeticia R.De SouzaaBernardo L.QueirozbVegard F.Skirbekkc To counter the problems of demographic ageing, Latin American countries, like many nations elsewhere, are considering raising the retirement age in order to maintain fiscal balance and sustain economic prosperity. In doing so, however, they must take into account not only the simultaneous decline in older adults’ labour force participation but also poor health among those potentially affected by the change. In this paper, we use country comparable census data for 1970–2010 to...

Social Programmes, Poverty Eradication and Labour Inclusion. Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean

By Lais Abramo, Simone Cecchini, Beatriz Morales Diverse social programmes — including conditional cash transfer programmes, labour and production inclusion programmes and social pensions — are being implemented in Latin American and Caribbean countries with the aim of ending poverty and reducing inequalities throughout the life cycle. This book offers an up-to-date analysis of these programmes and the way they relate to labour inclusion, and analyses ongoing debates regarding the possible incentives and disincentives they create in terms of...

April 2019

Inclusive Growth: The Global Challenges of Social Inequality and Financial Inclusion

By Howard Thomas, Yuwa Hedrick-Wong Inclusive growth ensures the benefits of a growing economy extend to all segments of society. Unleashing people’s economic potential starts with connecting them to the vital networks that power the modern economy. Implementing inclusive growth is a means of democratizing productivity and it is essential to reduce the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor in both developed and developing economies.   This book arose out of a research partnership between the Mastercard Center for...

March 2019

Impact of the digitalisation of financial services on supervisory practices in the private pension sector case study: Mexico

By the National Commission of the Retirement Savings System (CONSAR) I. Context of the Retirement Savings System (SAR) 1. Mexico introduced a new mandatory DC system of individual accounts in 1997 for private-sector workers (IMSS) and in 2007 for public-sector workers (ISSSTE)1 , both of which replaced old DB systems that had been in place since the 1940s and 1950s. 2. The new system has been relatively successful in creating a big pool of pension savings, as well as...

February 2019

Latam FX firms, Brazilian stocks mount recovery

A Latin American equities benchmark rose on Tuesday, bolstered by a rebound in Brazilian shares, while Latin American currencies broadly advanced against a soft dollar. Global currency traders wound back safe-haven dollar holdings on hopes that the fresh round of U.S.-China talks would aid strained trade ties between the world's two biggest economies, setting the stage for Latin American currencies to gain. Brazilian equities climbed back above the 97,000 mark....

Latam FX weak, Brazil’s real drops ahead of pension reform plans

Latin American currencies weakened against the U.S. dollar on Monday, with Brazil's real underperforming its peers ahead of anticipated pension reforms to be presented to congress later this week. The real slipped 0.8 percent, underperforming its peers, as President Jair Bolsonaro is expected to face opposition from congress, possibly delaying the passage of reforms seen as essential for shoring up the economy. "Pension reforms are considered crucial by the market with...

Private equity eyes long-term with Latin American infrastructure buys

Global institutional investors are circling a swathe of energy-related infrastructure assets in Latin America to increase their exposure in a region rife with more uncertainties but offering greater returns than those in more developed markets such as the US. Private investors or pension funds with cash burning holes in their pockets are increasingly participating in leveraged acquisitions of assets from Chile to Mexico. Mainly in the energy and infrastructure fields, such assets come with assigned long-term operating concessions and...

January 2019

Fintech: Latin America 2018: Growth and Consolidation

By Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); BID Invest; FinnovistaThis report is the second edition of the study “Fintech: Innovations You May Not Know were from Latin America and the Caribbean” (IDB, 2017), which offered a comprehensive view of the activity in and development of the Fintech industry in the region. The report describes the evolution and the progress achieved with respect to the measurement and analysis carried out in 2017, and examines new dimensions relevant to the ecosystem. The first...

Reversing Pension Privatization: Rebuilding Public Pension Systems in Eastern European and Latin American Countries (2000-18)

By Isabel Ortiz (United Nations - International Labour Organization (ILO); Initiative for Policy Dialogue), Fabio Duran (International Labour Organization (ILO)), Stefan Urban (United Nations - International Labour Organization (ILO)), Veronika Wodsak (United Nations - International Labour Organization (ILO)), Zhiming Yu (International Labour Organization) From 1981 to 2014, thirty countries privatized fully or partially their public mandatory pensions; as of 2018, eighteen countries have reversed the privatization. This report: (i) analyses the failure of mandatory private pensions to improve old-age income...

December 2018

Is Latin America Prepared for an Aging Population?

Latin America, while still comparatively young, is aging fast. Our research finds that population aging is challenging the fiscal sustainability of public pension and health care systems in the region. Policymakers will need to ensure adequate benefits for the rising share of older people—notably their social acceptability—by supporting formal employment and gradually reforming pension and healthcare systems. Demographic dividend Latin American countries are still younger than most advanced economies, but population aging is expected to accelerate. Today Latin American women have on...