Chilean Reform Research Articles

Exit in Developing Countries: Economic Reforms and Plant Heterogeneity

Abstract Several studies have found that plant turnover contributes to productivity growth. This evidence seems to be consistent with the idea that by reducing protection granted to inefficient firms, economic liberalization would generate productivity gains associated with resource reallocation from less productive to more productive firms. However, little empirical work has been done directly linking economic liberalization and plant exit. This article uses Chilean reforms to shed light on their effects on plant exit. Our econometric analysis shows that larger and more productive plants are less likely to exit. After controlling for these characteristics, we also find that exit is more likely in export‐oriented industries. Moreover, we find a differential impact of economic liberalization and exchange rate fluctuations. Changes in these variables have a more significant impact on less productive and smaller plants. By industry, we find that more affected plants are those in export‐oriented sectors.

Six Countries, Six Health Reform Models? Health Care Reform in Chile, Israel, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan and The Netherlands

This research contribution presents a diagnosis of the health reform experience of six small and mid-sized industrial democracies: Chile, Israel, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan and The Netherlands during the last decades of the twentieth century. It addresses the following questions: why have these six countries, facing similar pressures to reform their health care systems, with similar options for government action, chosen very different pathways to restructure their health care? What did they do? And what happened after the implementation of those reforms? The article describes the current arrangements for funding, contracting and payment, ownership and administration (or “governance”) of health care at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the origins of the health care reforms, the discussion and choice of policy options, processes of implementation and “after reform adjustments”. The article looks at factors that help explain the variety in reform paths, such as national politics, dominant cultural orientations and the positions of major stakeholders.

Expanding the Possibilities of Deliberation: The Use of Data Mining for Strengthening Democracy with an Application to Education Reform

Deliberation is important for strengthening democracies and enhancing the legitimacy of public policy. However, deliberation has been constrained by limits of time, space, and human capacities for listening and processing information. In this article, the authors discuss a new technology-based tool and show how it can help to partially remove these constraints. Although the Internet already provides the means to deliberate without the need to meet at the same place and time, its conjunction with data mining solves the “large numbers deliberation dilemma” that arises when large amounts of data have to be processed. The author's proposal adapts particular data-mining techniques, which simulate the learning process of a human brain with almost infinite relational capacities. The methodology was applied in a real-world case of Chilean education reform and demonstrated its potential effectiveness.

Orígenes de la Plástica en la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Chile: Parraguez, Dvoredsky y Galván

La enseñanza de la Plástica tuvo un papel central en las reformas universitarias en Chile. Este texto presenta el proceso en que se desarrollaron las reformas a la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Chile en las décadas del treinta y cuarenta.

Effects of school reform on education and labor market performance: Evidence from Chile's universal voucher system

This paper studies the effects of school reform in Chile, which adopted a nationwide school voucher program along with school decentralization reforms in 1981. Since then, Chile has had a relatively unregulated, competitive market in primary and secondary education. It therefore provides a unique setting in which to study how these reforms affected school attainment and labor market outcomes. This paper develops and estimates a dynamic model of school attendance and work decisions using panel data from the 2002 and 2004 waves of the Encuesta de Protección Social survey. Some individuals in the sample completed their schooling before the voucher reforms were introduced, while others had the option of using the vouchers over part or all of their schooling careers. The impacts of the voucher reform are identified from differences in the schooling and work choices made and earnings returns received by similar aged individuals who were differentially exposed to the voucher system. Simulations based on the estimated model show that the voucher reform significantly increased the demand for private subsidized schools and decreased the demand for both public and nonsubsidized private schools. It increased high school (grades 9-12) graduation rates by 3.6 percentage points and the percentage completing at least two years of college by 2.6 percentage points. Individuals from poor and non-poor backgrounds on average experienced similar schooling attainment gains. The reform also increased lifetime utility and modestly reduced earnings inequality.

Experiencias autogestionarias en salud: El legado de Gandulfo en La Hoja Sanitaria y el Policlínico de la Organización Sindical Industrial Workers of the World (1923-1942)

There are many ways to understand self-management. They vary from Government-dependent technical-administrative meanings (i.e. hospital self-management, in the context of health reform in Chile), to those related to efforts to abolish the State. Thus, the "self-management" concept was developed from the very beginning by the anarchist movement as one of its organizational principies. Henee, there is a need to break myths and prejudices about anarchist philosophy seen as a synonym of chaos, and to review its deeply constructive aspects and its highly moral character, hand in hand with genuine self-management in health. In this context, the work of Juan Gandulfo, a physician and anarchist, in the management of the Worker Polyclinic of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and its diffusion media "The sanitary page" must be emphasized. The aim of this paper is to review the history of particular initiatives in self management, complementing them with some biographical aspects of Dr. Gandulfo's life.

Self-management and health: Gandulfo's legacy in the "Sanitary Page" and worker's polyclinic (1923-1942)

There are many ways to understand self-management. They vary from Government-dependent technical-administrative meanings (i.e. hospital self-management, in the context of health reform in Chile), to those related to efforts to abolish the State. Thus, the "self-management" concept was developed from the very beginning by the anarchist movement as one of its organizational principies. Henee, there is a need to break myths and prejudices about anarchist philosophy seen as a synonym of chaos, and to review its deeply constructive aspects and its highly moral character, hand in hand with genuine self-management in health. In this context, the work of Juan Gandulfo, a physician and anarchist, in the management of the Worker Polyclinic of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and its diffusion media "The sanitary page" must be emphasized. The aim of this paper is to review the history of particular initiatives in self management, complementing them with some biographical aspects of Dr. Gandulfo's life.

Moving from pay-as-you-go to privately managed individual pension accounts: What have we learned after 25 years of the Chilean pension reform?

This paper presents a brief history of pension reform in Chile, the reasons behind the introduction of individual privately managed accounts in 1981, and the adjustments introduced in 2006–2007. The main conclusions are that the system is sound, but the reinforcement of the social protection to low-income–low-contribution workers was a necessary step, given the problems of the formal labour market. This adjustment was also feasible because the transition costs of the 1981 reform are entering the decreasing phase. We emphasise the importance of economic growth for the effective performance of the pension system, reversing one of the traditional arguments for pension reform. Finally, we explore elements that must be taken into account when designing this type of pension reform.

Counting the Cost of Privatised Provision: Women, Rights and Neoliberal Health Reforms in Chile

Counting the Cost of Privatised Provision: Women, Rights and Neoliberal Health Reforms in Chile

Feudal Enclaves and Political Reforms: Domestic Workers in Latin America

I examine how domestic workers have fared legally and politically in post-transition democracies in Latin America. Paid domestic work employs more than 15 percent of the economically active female population in Latin America, yet national labor codes tend to mandate lower salaries and benefits and longer working hours to those working in this sector. They also suffer from race, gender, and class discrimination. Although organizations advocating for domestic workers have demanded equal rights, political actors in the region have been extremely reticent to respond to these demands. By analyzing domestic workers' legal rights across the region and process-tracing political reforms in Chile and Bolivia, I find that although elite resistance to change is a constant, under the right circumstances, domestic workers can gain legal reforms. Domestic workers' social allies are labor, feminist, and indigenous organizations; however, to get the attention of these allies, and consequently to pressure politicians, they must first organize autonomously and publicize their cause. Although leftist parties are more likely to be receptive to their cause, they need pressure to act on behalf of the needs of such a marginalized group. Once they do, however, they need not be majority parties to get the issue on the agenda. The key political battle is getting and keeping the issue of domestic workers' rights on the political agenda; once it goes to a vote, it is unlikely to be rejected.

The Process of Building Hegemony: Health Reforms in Chile

The Process of Building Hegemony: Health Reforms in Chile

The 2008 Chilean Reform to First-Pillar Pensions

The 2008 Chilean Reform to First-Pillar Pensions

Health care reform in Chile

Chile has maintained a dual health care system under which its citizens can voluntarily opt for coverage by either the public National Health Insurance Fund or any of the country's private health insurance companies. Currently, 68% of the population is covered by the public fund and 18% by private

A critical appraisal to "AUGE" health plan in Chile

The health reform in Chile established a health plan called AUGE that guarantees an access to diagnosis and treatment of certain specific diseases within a time frame that must be respected. This article reviews and analyzes the general provisions of this plan and its management of values. Aspects that were implemented by the reform are discussed, especially those that refer to direct care of the population. The positive and negative aspects of the reform are balance and are contrasted with eventual changes that should be made from an ethical point of view.

Una mirada crítica en torno al plan AUGE. Algunos aspectos generales y valóricos

The health reform in Chile established a health plan called AUGE that guarantees an access to diagnosis and treatment of certain specific diseases within a time frame that must be respected. This article reviews and analyzes the general provisions of this plan and its management of values. Aspects that were implemented by the reform are discussed, especially those that refer to direct care of the population. The positive and negative aspects of the reform are balance and are contrasted with eventual changes that should be made from an ethical point of view.

Entitled to Health? Social Protection in Chile's Plan AUGE

ABSTRACTIn theory everyone has the right to health. However, in reality many low income households are unable to fully access health services and therefore cannot fully claim their rights. Recently, in an attempt to overcome these limitations, health reforms in Chile under the Plan AUGE have proposed a series of legal entitlements to health care that are available to everyone regardless of income level. While this is an important starting point in ensuring more universal access to health, the process has raised a number of important issues, particularly on how these entitlements have been defined and how far they will be able to transform (gender) inequalities within the health system. Looking at this from a gender perspective enables us to see that despite the shift from a health care system based on redistributive rights towards one based on the right of recognition, certain sectors of the population remain excluded. Decision‐making processes have remained technocratic, and women's groups have been marginalized from the debate around the reform. Moreover, health policy makers continue to ignore the role of the unpaid care economy in health care provision. The current reform has served to reinforce the gender roles around health care.

The Chilean Pension System at 25 Years: The Evolution of a Revolution

:The 1981 reform of the Chilean pension system was revolutionary at its time. It was the first instance of a mature public Pay-As-You-Go social security system being converted into a mandatory defined contribution system managed by the private sector. This paper contends that a unique confluence of events were responsible for this change. The rise of a dictatorship in Chile, a struggling public retirement system, and a cadre of Chicago oriented economists determined to make Chile a model free market neoliberal economy. This was later followed by the Washington Consensus and the promotion of Chilean reform by the World Bank. This paper analyzes the Chilean reform and its subsequent development; evaluating it on both efficiency and equity grounds. While the evidence for efficiency gains is mixed there is little doubt that equity has suffered under the new system. Nevertheless, it continues to evolve and equity concerns are increasingly being addressed.

Inequalities and healthcare reform in Chile: equity of what?

Chile has achieved great success in terms of growth and development. However, growing inequalities exist in relation to income and health status. The previous Chilean government began to reform the...

Social Security and Wealth Accumulation in Developing Economies: Evidence from the 1981 Chilean Reform

Wealth holdings are particularly important in developing economies as they allow individuals to insure themselves against income shocks in the absence of developed financial markets. In this paper, we test whether the existence of future social security benefits impacts wealth holdings by using the 1981 Chilean social security reform. Our estimates are based on the EPS 2004, which contains detailed data on wealth holdings (assets and liabilities) and social security account balances. By means of different econometric methods, we find no impact of social security on wealth accumulation, with the exception of poorer individuals. In that case, each additional peso in social security wealth depresses other types of wealth by almost 0.1 pesos, mainly in regard to real estate.

Hobby Ranching and Chile's Land‐reform Legacy*

ABSTRACT. Twentieth‐century land reform in Chile reflects familiar themes. The state subdivided large land monopolies, ostensibly for social justice reasons: to provide opportunities for campesinos to earn a living from agriculture. In southern Chile's Tierra del Fuego a combination of social justice, nationalism, and geopolitical concerns stimulated land reform between 1924 and 1978. The effort succeeded in creating a new material landscape oriented around smaller ranches but failed to meet its socioeconomic goals. In a scenario that resonates with reforms elsewhere in Latin America, an elitist cultural landscape dominated by large‐holding corporations was replaced with another elitist landscape, though in a different form. Politically well‐connected and essentially absentee landholders acquired subdivided land and began to practice “hobby ranching.” The history of land reform in Tierra del Fuego demonstrates how new socioeconomic conditions created over the course of many decades have left their imprint on land use and the biophysical landscape. It also contributes to larger regional debates about the role of land degradation in stocking‐rate decline.