Intergenerational income mobility and inequality in South Korea

Using data from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS), recent trends in intergenerational income mobility were explored, examining the relationship between income mobility and income inequality in South Korea. The study found that the intergenerational elasticity of income is about 0.2 and there is no clear‐cut trend in intergenerational income mobility. In addition, this study showed that there is no systematic relation between rising income inequality and intergenerational income mobility in contemporary Korea. Overall, the results indicate that intergenerational income mobility is irresponsive to the income inequality the respondents experienced growing up. It is assumed that education and welfare transfer programs might offset the consequences of income inequality by leading to upward mobility for children from low‐income households.     

Perceptions of inequality and attitudes towards redistribution in four East Asian welfare states

This study examined the effects of perceived economic inequality and inequality of opportunity on individual preferences for redistributive policies among people in mainland China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Using data from the 2009 International Social Survey Program, a series of regression analyses were performed. Results of the analyses indicate that perceived economic inequality is the most significant predictive factor of attitudes towards redistribution in all four states. Perceived inequality of opportunity was positively associated with favourable attitudes towards redistribution in mainland China and South Korea. Perceived socioeconomic status was not found to have a significant effect on attitudes towards redistribution in South Korea.     

Peaceful power transfers or successions and democratic consolidation in South Korea

This article sheds light on the positive role of power transfers or leadership successions in the democratic consolidation process in South Korea. In this study, we argue that democratic consolidation in South Korea is slowly taking place, and it is best measured by institutional rather than an individual president’s accomplishment. Therefore, democratic consolidation is not directly related to the success or failure of presidents since the transition to democracy occurred in 1987. Regardless of each president’s performance, repeated power shifts and successions through fair elections are likely to lead to the creation of a favorable political environment for democratic institutions to mature, which will support continued democratic consolidation in South Korea.     

The distributive impact of private pensions in the context of the institutional designs of public pension systems across OECD countries

Income inequality has been increasing across the developed world for the last few decades. The welfare state has played an important role in reducing income inequality, but it has now entered into an era of transformation. The shift from public to private pension schemes is one of the main policy instruments in this shift. An increase in private pensions is expected to create an increase in income inequality. Therefore, using data from OECD SOCX, this study examined how the effect of private pensions on income inequality might be changed by the institutional design of public pension systems. The results suggest that the effect of private pensions differs when the institutional design of the public pension system is considered. An increase in private pensions is related to an increase in income inequality when the public pension has a low level of coverage and a high level of earnings‐relatedness.     

Trends of Income Inequality Among the Elderly in Korea

This study investigates the overall trend of inequality among the elderly in Korea and to examine what the most influential factor is for these changes. Although inequality among the elderly is far greater than it is for any other group, little attention has been given to how inequality changes over time. Used are data from the Urban Household Survey with five‐year intervals from 1986 to 2006. The results show that inequality within a cohort increases over time and that earnings and benefits from occupational retirement plans are the most influential factors on overall inequality changes. In addition, the impact of public transfers has gradually increased during the past twenty years. The results imply that our society needs to enact a social policy for lessening earnings inequality in the labor market and to increase public transfers for the elderly.     

Material hardship and self-rated health among low-income households in South Korea

Concerns over poverty and health inequality are growing in South Korea. Using advanced statistical methods including lagged-dependent variable and fixed-effects approaches, we investigated whether experiencing material hardship (MH) was associated with self-rated health (SRH) among low-income households in South Korea. This study found that the experience of MH was positively associated with higher likelihood of reporting poor SRH (OR = 1.42, p < .05) and that experiencing two or more items of MH presented more harmful influence on SRH (OR = 2.02, p < .001). This study also found that the negative association between MH and SRH was stronger among the unemployed households.     

Concern about the rise of lazy welfare queens? An empirical explanation of the underdevelopment of the redistributive welfare system in South Korea

This study investigates why South Korea has maintained a minimalist welfare state with little redistribution of income. Inspired by the behavioral/attitudinal approach of Alesina and his colleagues, this study focuses on the perception that people who do not work become lazy. This belief is related to the anti-welfare sentiment that non-working benefits encourage laziness. This study shows that perceptions of work and laziness are associated with preferences for redistribution, not only among South Koreans, but also among individuals in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. Further, such perceptions are also associated with the redistribution policies chosen in a country. This study provides evidence that societal beliefs about work and laziness, along with several other political and economic factors, such as pre-tax income inequality, political institutions, and union density, may explain the small-scale redistribution in South Korea.     

Multidimensional Inequality in South Korea: An Empirical Analysis

The objective of this study is to review the theoretical limitations of single dimensional approaches for measuring inequality and to prove the effectiveness and practicality of the concept of “multidimensional inequality” by analyzing the inequality embedded in Korean society. This study constitutes nine dimensions of inequality (income, education, health, employment, social capital, leisure, work‐family reconciliation, housing, and social security) and analyzes inequality through the lens of each dimension by using data from of the first to fifth wave of the Korea Welfare Panel Study. The findings show a high degree of correlation among the dimensions of income, education, health, and social capital. However, work‐family reconciliation and housing have a relatively low correlation with income and the other dimensions. Second, multidimensional disparities were found between the groups of gender, age, and region. In conclusion, this study found a high degree of overlap between the concepts of income‐oriented inequalities and the multidimensional inequality approach. By capturing the notions of the multidimensional disparities that exist in each of the different groups, this study confirmed the effectiveness of multidimensional inequality as a useful concept for informing the creation of social policy intervention to alleviate inequality.     

Does family still matter? Public and private transfers in emerging welfare state systems in a comparative perspective

Kim JW, Choi YJ. Does family still matter? Public and private transfers in emerging welfare state systems in a comparative perspective Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 353–366 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. While the role of the family has been a distinctive feature of East Asian welfare systems, rapid social policy development and reforms in South Korea and Taiwan over the last two decades have led to an increase in public welfare. Yet, despite a growing number of studies, little is known about the role of family support – private transfers – and public programmes in the performance of state welfare. This article reports on a comparative analysis of the role of public and private transfers aimed at poverty and inequality reduction in 12 Western and two East Asian states employing the Luxemburg Income Study data set. Results indicate that, in contrast to the West, private transfers that rest primarily on family support remain more important than public transfers in reducing income inequality and poverty in South Korea and Taiwan.     

The Clash between Social Policy and Traditional Values: Unmet Welfare Needs Sustained by the Culture of Familism in South Korea

Drawing from a wider study of the ideas of poverty and inequality in South Korea, this paper reports on the lived experiences of disadvantaged South Koreans and their relationship to the National Basic Livelihood Security System (NBLSS), a flagship social assistance program aimed at addressing poverty and inequality. Utilizing a cultural approach to understanding and analysing policy responses to poverty, the impact of familism in the application of the NBLSS safety net is examined. Research data is presented through the testimonies, obtained through qualitative research interviews, of disadvantaged research participants and those who work with them, as well as policy‐makers' perspectives, revealing key flaws in the current NBLSS policy objectives. It is clearly evident that, by clinging to outdated Confucian conceptualizations of familial piety as a justification for highly selectivist access to what is no more than a subsistence level of financial support for poor people, the proposition of a poverty safety net is compromised and is widely missing its aim of reducing poverty and inequality in contemporary South Korea.     

Does social capital always raise life satisfaction? A comparison of South Korea and Taiwan

This study examined the relationship between social capital and life satisfaction in an Asian context, focusing on South Korea and Taiwan. We considered two components of social capital – networks and trust – and argue that the ability of social capital to increase life satisfaction depends on the context. Using the national Life and Society survey data from South Korea (N = 978) and Taiwan (N = 1,200), our analysis found that, when several control variables, such as subjective social status, self‐reported health condition, sex and belief in individualism, were considered, social capital was positively related to life satisfaction in Taiwan, while there was no significant association between social capital and life satisfaction in South Korea. The South Korean case revealed that social capital is not a good predictor of life satisfaction in a context in which being successful is overwhelmingly emphasised.     

State–business relations,foreign aid,and development: a comparative study of Ghana and South Korea

This study examines aid, state–business relations, and development in Ghana and South Korea. In 1957, when Ghana achieved independence, Ghana and South Korea shared approximately similar levels of GDP per capita. However, while South Korea has successfully transformed itself from a major recipient to a donor country and enjoys advanced economic growth and a high standard of living, Ghana—despite visible growth in recent decades—remains a low-income and aid-dependent country. In this study, focusing on policies that guide state–business relations and their impact on economic development, we examine the extent to which foreign aid played a role in shaping state–business relations and building (or failing to build) public–private development partnerships in South Korea and Ghana. More specifically, we argue that fundamentally in South Korea, through enabling national development policies, state and business worked together to achieve economic development; for Ghana, the local business sector was inadequately integrated as an economic development partner with the state, which explains the less than outstanding performance of various state-led development projects in Ghana in much of the last 50 years. In addition, we argue that in the case of South Korea, aid was used effectively to support and build local business groups, while in Ghana aid has largely failed to boost the private sector, a key factor explaining the divergent paths of aid and development outcomes between the two countries.     

Welfare regime change – or lack of change – in unemployment compensation

Drawing on theoretical accounts of institutional change, this study explored the politics of welfare regime transformation in regard to Turkey's unemployment compensation system. By using the institutionalist approach, the study shows that the process of welfare regime change was one of “institutional layering” of unemployment insurance (UI) over severance pay. Also, the study demonstrates that the economic bureaucracy played a key role in pushing the establishment of UI (state‐centric approach) in contrast to the class‐based organizations that focused their struggles on the severance pay scheme (power‐resource perspective). However, the economic bureaucracy preferred a rudimentary UI design, which prevented UI from undermining the vested interests behind the severance pay scheme. Furthermore, subsequent attempts at the reformation of the severance pay scheme were not successful because the social welfare bureaucracy lacked the capacity to develop a policy alternative to resolve the stalemate between the societal actors. Lastly, the study used the successful severance pay reform experiences of South Korea and Austria to locate the Turkish case within a broader comparative framework.     

教育的同型婚姻与中国社会的家庭工资收入不平等:1996—2012

近年来，关于同型婚配的研究在社会学界得到越来越多的关注。本文采用LHSC1996与CGSS2012两个截面数据，首先用对数线性模型测量调查数据中夫妻教育匹配的同型程度，用相关系数测量工资收入上的相似程度。然后使用模糊置换检验估量在控制年龄、城乡和地域之后，夫妻受教育程度的匹配对家庭工资收入不平等指数泰尔指数（Theil Index）的影响，并通过比较两个截面数据考察其变化趋势。在研究方法上本文有所贡献，本文所使用的改进的置换检验方法可以更好地控制年龄等定距变量。     

Postretirement earnings relative to preretirement earnings: gender and racial differences

As the social security program comes under increasing financial pressure in the coming decades, the federal government will encourage elderly people to continue to work. Data from the Social Security Administration indicate that earnings are already a sizable component of retirement income. But there is public concern about how women and minorities will fare economically in this changing policy environment. To what extent can women and minorities keep earning money after they reach retirement age? This article presents the results of a study that investigated the postretirement earnings, relative to the preretirement earnings, of women and minorities, and compared the results with those for men and whites. The major finding, based on regression analyses, was that women's postretirement earnings, relative to their preretirement earnings, were greater than those of men. Furthermore, the regression results indicate that nonwhites' postretirement earnings could not be predicted by their preretirement earnings or by any of the independent variables used in the study, including age, gender, education, marital status, number of children, occupation, and preretirement earnings.     

Immigrant Success in the Knowledge Economy: Institutional Change and the Immigrant Experience in Canada, 1970–1995

This research examines how institutional changes associated with the emergence of a "knowledge economy"—specifically the expansion of education and the changing labor market structure —shaped employment experiences of newly arriving immigrants to Canada over the period 1970–1995. Census data on successive cohorts of immigrant men and women (from microdata files for 1981, 1986, 1991, and 1996) show a progressive trend toward lower rates of labor force participation and lower levels of earnings relative to the native-born population, both overall and for most specific origins groups. These trends are only partly attributable to business cycle fluctuations in labor demand. The present article examines the impact of selected educational and labor market changes on successive cohorts of immigrants, using intertemporal substitution methodology. The analysis finds that (1) increased native-born education levels infringe upon the traditional immigrant education advantage, outpacing effects of increased immigrant skill selectivity; (2) increased returns to education among native-born workers do not apply to immigrants; and (3) other institutional obstacles to immigrant success also exist. The declining relative value of immigrant education may be due to the location-specific nature of credential validation processes. Directions for further research and policy analysis are suggested.     

Metropolitan Earnings Inequality: Union and Government‐Sector Employment Effects*

Objective. This study examines the effects of union density and government‐sector employment on earnings inequality in Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the United States. Methods. Data on 167 MSAs from the 2000 Census are analyzed using standard regression techniques. Four measures of Atkinson's index (e=0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0) are used as the measure of earnings inequality for full‐time, year‐round workers. Results. MSAs with greater union density and greater government‐sector employment have lower earnings inequality. The progressive effect of union density is strongest for earners in the middle of the distribution and less beneficial for workers at the bottom of the distribution. Government employment is generally associated with lower levels of earnings inequality, but state and federal government employment have the strongest effects. Conclusion. Even in the late 1990s, unions and government‐sector employment remain effective at reducing earnings inequality.     

A longitudinal examination of earnings inequality and mobility among young, full-time workers in the United States

This paper analyzes longitudinal data on earnings inequality and mobility for young, year-round full-time wage and salary workers in the United States. In general, we find that although real earnings across quintiles increased during the 1990s, earnings inequality continued to grow and upward earnings mobility declined slightly during the decade.     

Does globalization drive long-run inequality within OECD countries? A guide to policy making

We analyse around four decades of annual time-series data revisiting the long-run relationship between globalization and income inequality for 24 OECD member countries across different geographical regions, applying the Yamamoto-Kurozumi multivariate vector autoregression (VAR) framework. We observe that rapid globalization is not the key cause of rising long-run intra country inequality. This result is obtained by controlling for growth, terms of trade, minimum wage legislation, and unionization and found robust by further controlling education. Most of the countries in our study with a long-run relationship reveal the robust reverse causal impact of rising globalization on reducing inequality. Our impulse response breakdown across various sub-components of globalization suggests that economic globalization is not a primary contributor to long-run inequality for developed industrialized countries. Our framework guides future research to concentrate more on country-specific relationships, with policy guidance tailored for each country based on their level of economic development and institutional quality.     

Do economic growth and institutional quality reduce poverty and inequality in West Africa?

Over the past two decades, the West African region has experienced much faster economic growth than other parts of the world. However, despite this economic upturn, the region has continued to experience high levels of inequality and poverty, yet economic growth is considered to be one of the main drivers of poverty reduction. An interesting literature indicates that local conditions may limit the expected effects of economic growth on poverty and income inequality. In this study, we are interested in the role of institutional factors that have been largely ignored in explaining poverty reduction and inequality outcomes in this region. Thus, this study empirically examines the role of economic growth and institutional quality on inequality and poverty reduction in West Africa. Using data from the World Development Indicators (WDI), the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) and the Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID), our results show that economic growth remains a necessary condition for poverty reduction and that the overall improvement in the quality of institutions contributes significantly to reducing poverty and income inequality in the long term. This contribution is made in particular through the improvement of democratic institutions, the alleviation of bureaucratic constraints, the quality of the judicial and regulatory system, the control of corruption and the quality of government stability. Furthermore, we show that improvements in the judicial system, low levels of corruption and better bureaucratic quality happen to be prerequisites for economic growth to significantly reduce income inequality. These results therefore call on policy makers in the West African region to improve their institutional framework and especially these dimensions with a view to enabling the region citizens to improve their living conditions.