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JOSE PIÑERA
Since
1994, Dr. Piñera is fully dedicated to promote and share his
paradigm of personal retirement accounts around the world (www.pensionreform.org).
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.
As Chile`s Minister of Mining (1980-1981), he was responsible for the Constitutional Mining Law
of 1981 that established property rights in this important sector of the
Chilean economy.
Dr. Piñera was a key promoter of the 1980
Constitution,
which he signed, that established the institutions of liberty in
Chile (Constitutional Court, independent Central Bank, freedom
to establish private universities and private TV stations, etc),
and designed a transition path to attain full democracy in 1990,
after the breakdown of 1973.
As
architect of the Chilean Social Security reform, Dr. Piñera was
invited by former President Clinton to address the "White
House Social Security Summit" (Washington, December 1998)
and by George W. Bush, when Governor of Texas, to explain him the Chilean
experience and its relevance to the USA (Austin, September
1997).
He
has also been invited to testify in the UK House of Commons (by
its Chairman Frank Field, Labor MP), in the US Senate Banking
Committe (by its Chairman Phil Gramm, Republican Senator) and in
the US House of Representatives Budget Committe (by its Chairman
John Kasich, Republican Representative).
In
2007, he received the "Golden Umbrella Award for Best
Contribution to Free Market Thinking" from the Stockholm
Network in London. In 2005, he received the "Freedom
Award" from the Liberalni Institute in Prague. In 2003, he received the "Champion of Liberty Award" from
the Goldwater Institute (among its previous recipients were
Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Milton Friedman). In 2000,
he was introduced to the "Hall of Fame Award" and in
1999 given the "John S. Bickley Gold Medal", both from
the International Insurance Society. In 1998 he received the
"Liberty Award for Opportunity" from Americans for
Hope, Growth and Opportunity (in the same ceremony, the
"Liberty Award for Growth" was given to Milton and
Rose Friedman).
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 (www.cato.org), Co-Chairman
of its "Project on Social Security Choice", and Board member of
both its Trade and
Global Prosperity Centers..
He is the author of
nine books
and numerous essays. Among them are "Will the
Pension Time Bomb sink the Euro?" (Cato Journal),
"Liberating Workers: The World Pension Revolution"
(Cato Letter No 15, 2002), "Toward a World of
Worker-Capitalists" (Boston Conversazioni, April 2001) and
"A Chilean Model for Russia", Foreign Affairs,
September-October 2000.
Dr.
Piñera has published articles in many newspapers, among them
the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington
Post, and has been interviewed by, among others, John Stossel
for ABC 20/20, Chuck Scarborough for NBC and Ben Wattenberg for
PBS.
His
most recent interview was for the Swedish TV programme Global
Axess ("The Man Who Fought for Prosperity and Democracy
in Chile, José Piñera interviewed by Thomas Gur").
In
1993,
Jose Piñera was an independent presidential candidate in Chile.
He characterized this initiative as a "civic education
campaign", with the goal of defending and explaining the
reforms that had created a free society in Chile and proposing
further ones in education and health (see "The
beat of a different drummer").
(Personal
website: www.JosePinera.com
,with material in Spanish and English).
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