From Right to Reality Incentives, Labor Markets, and the Challenge of Universal Social Protection in Latin America and the Caribbean

This book shows that recent reforms have expanded social protection to the most vulnerable groups in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) but the coverage of contributory social insurance has stagnated, creating a two-tier, fragmented system. It proposes a strategy for improving the coherence of the social protection system and expanding the coverage and adequacy of benefits to all citizens, while avoiding perverse incentives to reduce work and savings, to seek informality, or to increase the costs of service provision. To turn the right to social protection into a reality for all in LAC, transparent, progressive subsidies should be used to help low-income workers access contributory social insurance. At the same time, targeted safety net programs should avoid creating disincentives to work or save and do more to promote human capital investment and labor market opportunities.