Presented at Retirement Implications of Demographic and Family Change Symposium Sponsored by the Society of Actuaries

Out of all the regions in the world, Latin America has accumulated the most experience with pension privatization of individual accounts (in the form of defined contribution plans). Chile and seven other countries have privatized their pension systems in different degrees (see, Tapen Sinha, Pension Reform in Latin America and Its Lessons for International Policymakers, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000). A number of policymakers (especially in conservative think tanks) have hailed privatization as a big success. In a rare move, the policymakers in the U.S. and in other developed countries actually have listened to these so-called success stories with a view toward implementing privatization in their own countries. This paper critically examines if there are lessons that could possibly learned from the collective experience in Latin America