Abstract
In Chapter 1, we defined the welfare state as the result of a social compromise in the conflict concerning the distribution of one of the many creations of human society, in this case social protection. It should then become evident that the history of the welfare states of both the developed and underdeveloped countries is such a compromise that translates into what we call the wage relation. In this chapter, we will define the theoretical characteristics of how the different types of social protection systems we discussed in the previous chapters translate into different wage relations. We will then analyze the empirical correspondence based on expenditure, social protection coverage, and wage data.
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Notes
- 1.
It is evident that a country’s tax structure must be considered as forming part of the wage relation, although in a “passive” way; the level of taxes allows the State to redistribute wealth and spend more or less to protect its population. And then, the level of taxes is also a compromise between capital and labor and between those that earn more and less in a society. We have to think of the consensus of the different social sectors to pay very high taxes in the countries of Northern Europe because they get much in return from the State and they preserve society from inequality, in contrast to the reluctance to pay taxes in such unequal countries like those of Latin America.
- 2.
In the case of Mexico, this situation has probably changed as the government of AMLO has expanded and significantly raised the amount of the non-contributory pensions. However, they are still low, as they cover 40% of the minimum salary.
- 3.
The situation of Brazil, but especially Argentina, has changed dramatically in the last four years, so these data have to be considered as a historical trend.
- 4.
On the other hand, this government has converted assistance into financial products, something which promises to have profound consequences on the social relation between the individuals and the State, as has been analyzed in the case of Mexico by Solène Morvant-Roux, 2019 and for Brazil by Lena Lavinas; a theme which opens up an array of interpretations of the social protection systems in Latin America which we have not been able to analyze in this book. Morvant-Roux considers that this transformation converts the debt of the State vis a vis its citizens to a debt of the citizens to the State, as this latter may impose an obligation on the part of the recipients of assistance to spend it in only in a specific manner, which can be easily controlled by electronic means. The conditionality of most of the assistance programs was already this kind of a transformation, and financialization is a deepening of this evolution.
- 5.
A study by Yaschine (2015), in the case of Mexico demonstrated that the very extensive poor relief programs applied in Mexico had no effect in reducing poverty.
- 6.
This program was a failure; it was canceled by the same government that implemented it at the beginning of 2023.
- 7.
As Máximo Jaramillo-Molina (2022) has written, the total that the government of AMLO spends on the poor is lower than what the past governments spent from 2009 to 2016. It spent in 2021 4.7% of GDP, while the peak occurred during the previous Peña Nieto presidency, with 5.3%.
- 8.
- 9.
https://consumidoresorganicos.org/2019/12/02/sembrando-vida-ya-causa-danos-ambientales-Y-sociales-en-campeche/ (cited by Bertoli, Max A. 2020: 76).
- 10.
As is usual in Mexico, programs are sexennial; they only last as long as the government that implements them.
- 11.
“The AFAM-PE program was created to alleviate poverty and promote school attendance, especially in the secondary cycle. The TUS, meanwhile, was conceived to promote the consumption of food and basic necessities in households in situations of extreme socioeconomic vulnerability” (Antía et al., 2018: 8).
- 12.
- 13.
It is an index (Base de Prestaciones y Contribuciones) that represents about one-fourth of a minimum salary, so 2.35 BPCs are about 60% of the minimum salary.
- 14.
The Macri government made a 180-degree turn in the other direction.
- 15.
These last conclusions regarding the rating of the different countries on a quantitative scale are comparable to the ones of two articles that pretend to rank the social protection systems of Latin America, but for two significant exceptions, those of Chile and Colombia. The article by José Antonio Ocampo and Natalie Gómez-Arteaga (2016), based on nine variables, basically structural ones (universality, coverage, and social spending), finds that Chile is one of the top systems, just below Uruguay, while Colombia comes much lower, in the intermediate level. In the other quantitative article by Gibrán Cruz-Martínez (2021), based on 15 variables, Chile also comes second, and Colombia is much behind. However, this article includes not only structural indicators but also outcomes and quality, and in the index based on the quality indicators, Chile descends from the second to the eighth level, and Colombia ascends from the eighth to the fifth, approaching our ranking. This may explain why our index, where almost half of the indicators are related to quality, comes closer to Cruz-Martinez’s when measuring the quality of the different welfare systems in Latin America.
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Bizberg, I. (2024). The Welfare State and the Wage Relation. In: Four Worlds of the Welfare State in Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44420-3_6
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