The Developing Economies, XLII-2 (June 2004): 217–40 TRANSFORMATION AND CONTINUITY OF THE ARGENTINE WELFARE STATE: EVALUATING SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM IN THE 1990s

Beginning after World War II, Argentina institutionalized a limited conservative corpo-ratist welfare state where occupation-linked social insurance held a central position and social assistance had a residual character. This was called a limited conservative corpo-ratist welfare state, because the huge population within the informal sector was excluded from the main system. A populist government supported by trade unions and the eco-nomic model of import-substituting industrialization were the background for the for-mation of this type of welfare state. During the 1990s, elements of a liberal regime were added to the Argentine welfare state under the reform carried out by the Menem Peronist government. However, social insurance reform and labor reform were not as drastic as the economic reform. They still retained a certain continuity from the traditional sys-tems. The government intended to carry out more drastic social security and labor re-form, but was unable to do so due to the legacy of corporatism of the Peronist govern-ment