Institute: CEQLS Lecture:José Piñera: Private vs. Public Pension Systems

José Piñera: Press Conference and CEQLS Lecture, Conservative Institute, Bratislava, September 11, 2008

José Piñera is fully dedicated to promote and share his paradigm of personal retirement accounts around the world as a President of The International Center for Pension Reform. Dr. Piñera holds a Master (1972) and Ph.D. (1974) degree in Economics from Harvard University, and is a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Cato Institute, Co-Chairman of its Project on Social Security Choice, and Board member of both its Trade and Global Prosperity Centers.

As Chile's Minister of Labor and Social Security (1978-1980), José Piñera was responsible for the Social Security Act of 1980, that created a fully funded pension system based on personal retirement accounts and allowed workers to choose a private health option, and for the Labor Code of 1979, that re-introduced trade union democracy and decentralized collective bargaining.

He is the author of nine books and numerous essays (more can be found here).

Selected articles by José Piñera:

Wealth Through Ownership: Creating Property Rights In Chilean Mining, (Cato Journal, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2004),
Will the Pension Time Bomb Sink the Euro? (Cato Journal Vol. 24, No. 1-2, 2004),
Toward a World of Worker-Capitalists (Boston Conversazioni, April 2001),
A Chilean Model for Russia, Foreign Affairs, September-October 2000)

José Piñera has received several awards:

2007: "Golden Umbrella Award for Best Contribution to Free Market Thinking", the Stockholm Network, London,
2005: "Freedom Award", Liberální institut, Prague,
2003: "Champion of Liberty Award", the Goldwater Institute,
2000: "Hall of Fame Award", the International Insurance Society,
1999: "John S. Bickley Gold Medal", the International Insurance Society,
1998: "Liberty Award for Opportunity", Americans for Hope, Growth and Opportunity.