Household Risk Management and Social Protection in Chile

This volume takes a critical look at the country's social protection "system" - broadly defined to include policy interventions, public institutions, and the regulation of private institutions that lower the welfare costs of adverse shocks to income from job loss and extended unemployment, health episodes, old age, and life-time poverty - to determine if a system exists or simply a set of loosely coordinated programs. The study also assesses whether households are provided with appropriate tools to mitigate risks to their income, identifying gaps in coverage and where instruments are missing. As well, the study provides the Government with a set of guidelines grounded in a conceptual framework that, if carefully applied, could increase the effectiveness of social protection. The author of the study finds that Chile succeeds in providing households with the instruments that they need to mitigate shocks to income. The institutions Chile has put in place to help households lower losses from these shocks - from the new unemployment insurance system, the retirement security system and the mixed health insurance system - are generally appropriately designed to match the nature of the risks they are intended to cover. Yet, while still in a minority, too many Chilean households - even among the non poor - do not have access to the sophisticated, state of the art social protection institutions that are in place.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: World Bank
Language:English
en_US
Published: Washington, DC 2005
Subjects:AFFILIATES, ANNUITY, BENEFICIARIES, COMMISSIONS, CONSOLIDATION, CONTRIBUTORY PROGRAMS, COVERAGE, DEBT, DEFICITS, EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS, FAMILIES, FINANCIAL CRISES, FISCAL POLICY, HEALTH EXPENDITURES, HEALTH INSURANCE, HOUSEHOLD INCOME, HOUSEHOLD SURVEY, HOUSING, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, INCIDENCE OF POVERTY, INCOME, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, INCOME GROUPS, INCOME INEQUALITY, INCOME QUINTILE, INCOME SHARES, INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS, INEQUALITY, INFLATION, INSURANCE, INSURANCE COVERAGE, INSURANCE SYSTEM, INSURANCE SYSTEMS, INTERVENTION, ISOLATION, LATIN AMERICAN, MITIGATION, MORAL HAZARD, OLD AGE, OLD AGE POVERTY, PENSIONS, POOR, POOR FAMILIES, POVERTY LINE, PUBLIC AGENCIES, PUBLIC HEALTH, PUBLIC POLICY, PUBLIC SPENDING, RATES, RETIREMENT, RISK MANAGEMENT, RURAL, RURAL AREAS, RURAL ECONOMY, SAVINGS, SELF INSURANCE, SELF PROTECTION, SELF TARGETING, SOCIAL ASSISTANCE, SOCIAL INSURANCE PROGRAMS, SOCIAL POLICIES, SOCIAL POLICY, SOCIAL PROGRAMS, SOCIAL SECURITY, STRUCTURAL REFORMS, SURCHARGES, SUSTAINABILITY, TARGETING, TAXATION, UNEMPLOYMENT, UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE, WAGES, WORKERS,
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/12/6430978/household-risk-management-social-protection-chile
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/14839
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Summary:This volume takes a critical look at the country's social protection "system" - broadly defined to include policy interventions, public institutions, and the regulation of private institutions that lower the welfare costs of adverse shocks to income from job loss and extended unemployment, health episodes, old age, and life-time poverty - to determine if a system exists or simply a set of loosely coordinated programs. The study also assesses whether households are provided with appropriate tools to mitigate risks to their income, identifying gaps in coverage and where instruments are missing. As well, the study provides the Government with a set of guidelines grounded in a conceptual framework that, if carefully applied, could increase the effectiveness of social protection. The author of the study finds that Chile succeeds in providing households with the instruments that they need to mitigate shocks to income. The institutions Chile has put in place to help households lower losses from these shocks - from the new unemployment insurance system, the retirement security system and the mixed health insurance system - are generally appropriately designed to match the nature of the risks they are intended to cover. Yet, while still in a minority, too many Chilean households - even among the non poor - do not have access to the sophisticated, state of the art social protection institutions that are in place.