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Historically speaking, social security systems are a recent development. At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was limited state social intervention in the developed world, and even less in Latin America. A remarkable expansion of "social rights" took place in the second half of the century. By the 1970s most Latin American countries had set up at least some form of old-age protection, while others had already developed a wide welfare network. Public social expenditures grew to represent over 20 percent of the gross domestic product in a number of countries, including Argentina.

English
This article discusses the nature of trust and its importance for pensions policy. Trust in the financial services sector has suffered in the face of a 'pensions crisis'. Government's response focuses on 'empowering' consumers through education, information and pensions simplification, to create a domain of 'active trust' (Giddens, 1994). This approach is likely to fail many, and government must focus on rebuilding trust in its own ability to manage long-term pensions policy. It is argued that this should involve a greater role for government as a provider, but in any event the first step is a meaningful dialogue with the public.

This article provides a brief summary of the most recent changes in public pension policies in the countries of the European Union and describes how they affect pension benefits for future pensioners. The pension systems in Europe have been changing fast. The common trends are that the generosity of public pension benefits is on the decline, the changes are likely to shift more risks towards individuals and there are fewer possibilities of redistribution. Our analyses point towards the importance of a more comprehensive assessment of these reforms so as to reduce the risk of pensioner poverty in the future.

Sweden is often hailed as a model for far-reaching pension reform. The comprehensive 1994/1998 reform replaced the existing statutory system that had been in place since 1960 with a new system based on notional defined contributions, individual investment accounts, and a guarantee pension. The reformed pension system also includes "automatic stabilizers" that ensure that pension liabilities and assets remain in balance. Sector-wide occupational pension schemes provide a topup to public pensions. This study analyses the origins, negotiation, and effects of the reformed pension system. It discusses the weaknesses of the preexisting system and the broad political compromise that emerged in the 1990s around reform and continues to shape the direction of policy change. The study also ex-amines the role of occupational pensions in the overall pension system, the role of unions in shaping the reform, and the links between labour market performance and the pension system. ; Das schwedische Rentensystem wird oft als Vorbild für Rentenreformen herangezogen. Durch eine umfassende Reform wurde 1994/1998 das seit 1960 bestehende öffentliche System ersetzt. Das neue System beinhaltet unter anderem individuelle Investmentkonten und eine Garantierente. Das reformierte System verfügt zudem über automatische Stabilisatoren, die Zahlungsverpflichtungen und "Vermögenswerte" ausbalancieren sollen. Durch sektorweite betriebliche Altersvorsorge werden die Leistungen des öffentlichen Systems aufgestockt. Die Study analysiert die Ursprünge des bestehenden Systems und die politischen Hintergründe sowie die Folgen der Reform. Es werden die Schwächen des vorherigen Systems dargestellt und auch der breite politische Konsens, der in den 1990er Jahren entstand und seither die Richtung der Reformen bestimmt. Außerdem wird die Funktion der betrieblichen Altersvorsorge im Sicherungssystem behandelt, die Rolle der Gewerkschaften im Reformprozess und die Beziehungen zwischen Arbeitsmarktentwicklung und Rentensystem.

Rapid economic growth is often a disruptive social process threatening the social relations and ideologies of incumbent regimes. Yet far from acting defensively, the Chinese Communist Party has lead a major social and economic transformation over forty years, without yet encountering fundamental challenges subverting its rule. A key question for political sociology is thus - how have the logics of China's governmentality been able to help maintain compliance from the governed while acting so radically to advance the state's growth priorities?
This book explores the issue by analysing the detailed trajectories, rationale, and effects of China's pension reforms. It uses strong methods, including institutional analysis of resource allocation in the multiple pension schemes and programmes, and quantitative text analysis of the knowledge construction in official discourse along with the reforms. Causal identification estimates the effects of key policy instruments on public opinion about pension responsibility and political trust. Moving beyond the pension issues, the analysis discusses with qualitative evidence why falsified compliance might exist in China's society and the mechanisms that may lie behind it. Where active counter-conduct (such as resistance) is confined, individuals may choose cognitive rebellion and falsify their public compliance.
The Chinese state's strategy to generate public compliance is hybrid, organic, and dynamic. The state rules society by its customised governance design and constant adjustments. Public compliance is not only acquired through 'buying off' the public with governmental performance and transfer benefits, but is also manufactured through achieving cultural changes and new ideological foundations for general legitimation.

Too much is made of the 'problem' of an ageing population. The real problem in pensions provision is state pay‐as‐you‐go. Private assets of secure title are the best route to financial independence in retirement.