Empirical Likelihood‐Based Inference in Conditional Moment Restriction Models

This paper proposes an asymptotically efficient method for estimating models with conditional moment restrictions. Our estimator generalizes the maximum empirical likelihood estimator (MELE) of Qin and Lawless (1994). Using a kernel smoothing method, we efficiently incorporate the information implied by the conditional moment restrictions into our empirical likelihood‐based procedure. This yields a one‐step estimator which avoids estimating optimal instruments. Our likelihood ratio‐type statistic for parametric restrictions does not require the estimation of variance, and achieves asymptotic pivotalness implicitly. The estimation and testing procedures we propose are normalization invariant. Simulation results suggest that our new estimator works remarkably well in finite samples.     

Investigating dependence between frequency and severity via simple generalized linear models

Recently, a body of literature proposed new models relaxing a widely-used but controversial assumption of independence between claim frequency and severity in non-life insurance rate making. This paper critically reviews a generalized linear model approach, where a dependence between claim frequency and severity is introduced by treating frequency as a covariate in a regression model for severity. As an extension of this approach, we propose a dispersion model for severity. For this model, the information loss caused by using average severity rather than individual severity is examined in detail and the parameter estimators suffering from low efficiency are identified. We also provide analytical solutions for the aggregate sum to help rate making. We show that the simple functional form used in current research may not properly reflect the real underlying dependence structure. A real data analysis is given to explain our analytical findings.     

Grandparent caregiving and cognitive functioning among older people: evidence from Korea

Review of Economics of the Household - Caregiving for grandchildren is becoming common and plays an important role in the childcare system in many countries. This study examines whether caregiving...     

Effects of 360° video on attitudes toward disaster communication: Mediating and moderating roles of spatial presence and prior disaster media involvement

Visual media technologies such as 360° video, augmented reality, and virtual reality are on the rise for immersive storytelling in a variety of public relations contexts. Yet there is a profound lack of scholarly research in public relations, crisis communication, and disaster communication to explore the effects of content displayed using these delivery formats on publics’ responses. To begin addressing the knowledge gap, this work reports results from a laboratory experiment investigating effects of media modality (traditional unidirectional video content vs. 360° omnidirectional video content) on attitudes toward the disaster communication content. Results demonstrate that 360° video featuring the aftermath of a natural disaster yields enhanced attitudes toward the helpful impact of the content. Importantly, mediation analyses show that (1) a sense of spatial presence underlies these effects, and (2) the mediating effects of spatial presence are attenuated by involvement with similar disaster media coverage (indirect experience).     

Korean students’ minority schooling experience in Japan

A qualitative study conducted in western Japan examined the perceptions of Korean students in Japanese junior high school to identify factors contributing to a consistently low high school advancement rate compared to mainstream Japanese students. Fourteen people were interviewed about their Korean students’ experiences in Japan. The findings of this study suggest that factors contributing to the low high school advancement rate among Korean students cluster around three themes: (1) discrimination experienced in society at large and at school, (2) assimilation to become more like the Japanese, and (3) inconsistent cultural and insufficient academic support given by the school and teachers. Findings from this study indicate how the power structure in a social context of schooling influences minority students’ learning and also confirmed in part Ogbu and Cummins’ theories of how power relations between the subordinated and the dominant affect minority students’ schooling experiences and learning.     

Emancipation under the great recession in Spain

In this paper we document the behavior of emancipation over one of the biggest boom–bust cycles experienced by the Spanish economy. In principle, the economic difficulties faced by the Spanish youth during the last recession would have hampered a normal emancipation pace. However, we find that the proportion living away from parents among those aged 18–40 has not decreased but increased from 44 % during the boom (2005–2008) to 46 % during the bust (2009–2013). A simple decomposition reveals that this is mainly driven by the substantial rise in the emancipation rate among the full-time employed workers during the bust. To explain this change we discuss several factors such as macroeconomic conditions, rental subsidy policy, higher labor mobility, selection bias, reverse causation, time-lag in adjustment and secular trend.     

An analysis on basic income: Evidence using data from experimental projects throughout the world

Basic income was a hot issue in the recent Korean presidential election. Its pros and cons were used to scramble for the electorate's votes. However, their arguments largely relied on political rhetoric and lacked scientific facts. The problem is that politics without the backing of science is not only prone to a misguided conviction but also going to deal a blow to the future development of basic income. This study aims to narrow the gap between rhetoric and facts through evidence-based research on basic income. By employing methods of fact-finding and effect evaluation, we analyze using four aspects of assessment, namely, general information about basic income experiments; details on the experiments; development of the experiments; and the effect of the experiments. Basic income-related data are drawn from the World Bank and the Basic Income Laboratory at Stanford University. Significant results of the review are that some positive effects were identified at the micro level but any meaningful macro-level impact was impossible to confirm. To sum up, the outcomes are so erratic that it is difficult to detect any clear pattern in policy impacts. To approach basic income more scientifically, further research is urgently needed.     

An Industrial Ocean-Cargo Shipping Problem

This paper reports the modeling and solution of an industrial ocean-cargo shipping problem. The problem involves the delivery of bulk products from an overseas port to transshipment ports on the Atlantic Coast, and then over land to customers. The decisions made include the number and the size of ships to charter in each time period during the planning horizon, the number and location of transshipment ports to use, and transportation from ports to customers. The complexity of this problem is compounded by the cost structure, which includes fixed charges in both ship charters and port operations. Such a large scale, dynamic, and stochastic problem is reduced to a solvable stationary, deterministic, and cyclical model. The process of modeling the problem and the solution of the resultant mixed integer program are described in detail. Recommendations from this study have been implemented.     

Child welfare policy and services in Korea

Over the past 20 years, the Korean government has developed child welfare laws to respond to an increasing number of child maltreatment cases and create a centralized child welfare delivery system. However, the system remains fragmented and under-developed due to a lack of understanding of child maltreatment and limited government support. Further, few studies have comprehensively reviewed the system. This study examines the Korean child welfare system, identifies challenges for child welfare policies and services, and discusses the implications for future policy; the results can be used to improve the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families in Korea. The analysis shows that the government has prioritized family preservation over removal from families, even in substantiated cases of abuse. However, ensuring the safety of children in Korea will require not only working to preserve families but also developing and implementing better options for in-home services and out-of-home placement.