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Exceptional Argentina Di Tella, Glaeser and Llach - Thomas Piketty

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observationally equivalent individuals. For subordinate agents, the situation varies depending<br />

on the jurisdiction. In the Province of Buenos Aires, policeman earn more than observationally<br />

equivalent individuals, <strong>and</strong> agents of the PFA earn approximately the same as the median<br />

counterfactual wage. If the comparisons are meaningful 6 , these figures confirm that the<br />

explanation for the reversal of fortune does not seem t to arise from a particularly low monetary<br />

compensation. Moreover, unlike the Chilean case, Argentinean policeman get overtime<br />

payments, which can account for an additional 50 % of the wage in the PFA (Cordoba <strong>and</strong><br />

Pastor, 2003) or even 100% of their wage in the Police of the Province of Buenos Aires 7 .<br />

Pensions<br />

Becker <strong>and</strong> Stigler’s theory (1974) suggest that in order to always keep the future value of<br />

being in the Organization above the malfeasance threshold, optimal contracts need to offer<br />

good pensions. This back-ends a substantial portion of the compensation aligning incentives<br />

because the premium is paid after chances for misbehavior are over. In Chile the replacement<br />

rate (i.e. the ratio between the last salary <strong>and</strong> the pension) is 100%, so policemen keep their last<br />

salary forever. In <strong>Argentina</strong> it is also complete, although with some exceptions 8 . Timing is the<br />

other big ingredient impacting the net present value of Pension benefits. In Chile policeman<br />

can retire after 30 years in the organization. In <strong>Argentina</strong> it is after 35 years for agents of the<br />

Police of the Province of Buenos Aires <strong>and</strong> national security forces, except the PFA, which is<br />

after 30 years. For people that leave the Organization before this period, both police forces<br />

include a 20 year threshold that entitle policeman with some level of pension. The differences<br />

seem – again – relatively minor between the two countries. Both have early retirement vis-a-vis<br />

alternative occupations. Thus, prima facie, there seems to be no radical differences in terms of<br />

monetary wage <strong>and</strong> pension compensation that can fully justify the difference in performance<br />

between Chile <strong>and</strong> <strong>Argentina</strong>. As benchmark, wages of police officers in the US are higher than<br />

the average <strong>and</strong> also higher than the median wage for their observationally equivalent<br />

indivduals. 9 In contrast with Chile <strong>and</strong> <strong>Argentina</strong>, developed countries seem to weight more<br />

the compensation of active policeman <strong>and</strong> less the back ending of benefits.<br />

1. Non-wage benefits<br />

In both countries there are important non-wage benefits. Both Chile <strong>and</strong> <strong>Argentina</strong> have special<br />

health insurance <strong>and</strong> hospital for the police officers <strong>and</strong> their families. Similarly, taking<br />

advantage of the superior level of repayment monitoring, in both countries there is special<br />

access to credit. In the Police of the Province of Buenos Aires, for example, there are special<br />

credit facilities for members of the organization sponsored by the Provincial Pensions<br />

Administration. Namely, credits for up to 48 payment periods <strong>and</strong> the possibility of having<br />

more than one loan at the same time. In Chile many Carabineros can benefit from a partially<br />

subsidized assignment of publicly owned housing. In particular, this is more relevant for<br />

6 Note that to get compatibility between the administrative data <strong>and</strong> the household survey we used an estimate of<br />

inflation. Inflation measurement <strong>and</strong> misreport by authorities is a whole issue in <strong>Argentina</strong> today.<br />

7 Calculations based on the fact that policemen are allowed to do 8 extra hours per day, <strong>and</strong> that they are worth<br />

between 2 <strong>and</strong> 4 dollars per hour, depending on the service.<br />

8 In <strong>Argentina</strong> the replacement rate de facto is difficult to calculate, but seems well above 80% . Part of the wages<br />

are not considered for pension purposes to avoid the fiscal burden of indexation. By law, wage increases in the<br />

active Argentinean Police forces should also be mirrored by an increase in the pension payments for retired<br />

policeman. To avoid that, part of the benefits, which take the form of familiar allowances for members of the PFA<br />

<strong>and</strong> Buenos Aires Police, are technically paid as non wages but are de facto wages. This makes a de jure 100%<br />

replacement rate to be a de facto around 80%, roughly.<br />

9 See Wagner, 2008

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