Social rights of citizenship and generosity of the pension system: the Uruguayan case for the period 1950-2018

Abstract

This article aims to present a measure of the expansion of welfare generated by the Uruguayan pension system from 1950-to 2018, observed through its generosity. At the same time, it intends to analyze the evolution of this phenomenon with the institutional pension dynamics. Through the social rights of citizenship approach, an indicator is constructed to measure the degree of expansion of the right to economic security in old age. The results show evolution throughout the period of the generosity of the Uruguayan pension system, but with a disparate behavior when its evolution by sub-periods is appreciated. In this sense, a dynamic of expansion and recovery of generosity can be seen. This characteristic helps us to hypothesize about the construction of social rights of citizenship linked to the pension system, whose elimination would be considered illegitimate or intolerable by citizens, which would affect the social sustainability of pension reforms.