Exceptional Argentina Di Tella, Glaeser and Llach - Thomas Piketty

of formal education, whereas in the militarized forces they need to have 12 years. 41
Nevertheless, applicants to the recently created “accelerated preparation” for Coast Guard and
Gendarmerie have a lower requirement: nine years of schooling. As there are differences in the
requirements to join the forces, there are also differences regarding the basic mean monthly
wage they receive. In the PFA, the National Gendarmerie and the Argentinean Coast Guard, it
is in the ballpark of US$ 360 and US$ 390 for Officers. For subordinate officers, the basic
mean wage lies between US$220 and US$240 for agents of the PFA and the National
Gendarmerie, it is US$ 340 for agents of the Argentinean Coast Guard, and it is US$ 770 for
officers of the Police of the Province of Buenos Aires.
In any case, given that these wages are only a portion of the compensation – in a percentage
that varies among different Organizations – is hard to make precise comparisons of the total
wage. For example members of the PFA and the Police of the Province of Buenos Aires receive
family allowances. These are mainly monthly allowances for under aged children, disabled
children and spouses. The PFA also makes annual payment to policemen that render their
services on the interior of Argentina. Regarding overtime payment, it is legal for agents of all
the security forces to do them. But, in general, the subordinate ranks are the ones that render
this additional service. There are two types of overtime: for privates (banks, soccer matches,
etc.), which are called PolAd in the Province; or for providing the service of patrolling and
controlling the streets of the city were agents regularly work, called Co.Re.S. in Buenos Aires
province. Most extra hours are done for privates, which involves a higher payment as they are
42
riskier activities than the normal street level service. Police agents request to do them. In
Buenos Aires, for example, Co.Re.S. hours are paid by the Provincial Government and are
worth US$2 per hour whereas PolAd hours are paid by the private consumers because they
request the security to the local police force and are worth between US$3,5 and US$4 per hour.
Police officers are allowed to do up to 8 extra hours per day, which certainly increases our
concerns about multitasking. As in Chile, the two militarized forces do not make overtime
payment for the extra hours worked by their agents in their normal duties. Agents of the
Argentinean Coast Guard are allowed to perform extra hours but just for privates like country
clubs, discos and banks who hire the security service of the force (even outside their
jurisdiction). In contrast, they are not paid extra time when they have to stay longer on their
regular positions. The coast guards apply directly to do those extra hours for privates. They are
not allowed to do additional services as civilians unless they receive a specific permit.
However, many coast guards provide their security services for civilians without authorization
because of the low payment. In the National Gendarmerie, extra hours were not allowed until
five years ago. Nowadays, they are legal but just for privates, particularly for looking after
transportations and for the security of public officers like judges. Like Coast Guards, they do
not get paid for additional service on their regular post. The gendarme can not apply to do those
overtime hours for privates, they are appointed to him. Even though they are legal, it is not very
common for gendarmes to do overtime hours as in general they do not have time to perform
them. However, gendarmes have supplemental components of their basic wage, like
“supplement for hierarchy”, “supplement for uniform”, “supplemental for living
expenditures”, “supplemental for studies” and “supplemental for zone” that for a low hierarchy
41 This is not the case for officers of the National Gendarmerie and the Argentinean Coast Guard, where both
subordinate and superior agents need 12 full years of formal education before starting a career (in the National
Gendarmerie the difference lie on the basic knowledge of automobile and motorcycle driving that superior
officers need to have; in the Argentinean Coast Guard to have previous knowledge of physics is needed to get
enrolled as a superior officer).
42 This was the explanation given by an Officer of the Buenos Aires police on an interview in order to rationalize
the differences in the extra hours’ payment. An alternative view is that the pricing of private services by the police
is in part determined by the availability of a market of private security guards, while the extra hours for public
service are just determined by the public budget.