Census-derived estimates of fertility by duration since first marriage in the Republic of Korea

This paper estimates ever-married birth rates by age and duration since first marriage and ever-married total fertility rates for the Republic of Korea, derived by applying an extension of the own-children method of fertility estimation to the 1975 and 1980 censuses. Since each census provides annual estimates for the 15-year period previous to enumeration, there is a ten-year period of overlapping estimates that facilitates checks for consistency and accuracy. Comparisons are also made with estimates derived from the 1974 Korea National Fertility Survey, which was part of the World Fertility Survey. The method works well, except in its application to the 1975 Census where the evidence suggests considerable misreporting of age at first marriage because of the way the question was asked and coded. Results confirm that ever-married fertility fell substantially in Korea between 1961 and 1980, with a temporary resurgence in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Ever-married fertility rose at younger ages and shorter durations and fell at older ages and longer durations. Ever-married fertility differentials by urban-rural residence and by education were usually in the expected direction, with urban fertility generally lower than rural fertility and the fertility of those with more education usually lower than the fertility of those with less education. Differential ever-married fertility by urban-rural residence and education declined over the estimation period.     

The Quality of Korean Life in Camparative Perspective: Objective Quality of Life in Korea and the OECD Countries

Social Indicators Research - This study attempts to compare the current state of Korea's quality of life with that of more developed countries in their past, and seeks to derive suggestions for...     

The Development and Initial Psychometric Evaluation of the Korean Career Stress Inventory for College Students

The purpose of this study was to develop a Korean College Stress Inventory (KCSI), which is designed to measure Korean college students' experiences and symptoms of career stress. Even though there have been numerous scales related to career issues, few scales measure the career stress construct and its dimensions. Factor structure, internal consistency, and concurrent validity of the KCSI scores are described. Results indicated that the internal consistency reliabilities of 4 KCSI subscale scores were reasonably high. In addition, the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the modified 4‐factor solution seemed to provide a reasonably good fit to the data. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Student Loan Decision Making: Experience as an Anchor

Journal of Family and Economic Issues - The purpose of study is to examine the association between one's past borrowing experience and borrowing decisions in a hypothetical survey scenario. A...     

Republic of Korea. Country feature

The Government of Korea's 5th 5-Year Economic and Social Development Plan (1982-86) seeks to reduce the population growth rate from its 1982 level of 1.58% to 1.49% by 1986; it is assumed that the population replacement level of fertility (total fertility rate, 2.1) will be attained in 1988. The task of achieving these demographic targets is expected to be made more difficult by factors such as the impact of the 1950s baby boom and widespread son preference. New population control policy measures announced in 1981 call for improvements in the current family planning program management system; a new social and institutional support system to inculcate the small family size norm; strengthened information, education, and communication activities for family planning; and establishment of coordination among the government organizations involved in population-related activities. Numerous social support measures have already been put into effect, including income tax exemptions for up to 2 children, inclusion of population education in the school curriculum, priority in alloting public housing to sterilization acceptors with 2 or fewer children, and provision of IUD services through the medical insurance system. The number of contraceptive acceptors in the government program increased 78.3% from 1981-83, from 614,000 to 1,094,600. Sterilization and menstrual regulation services have shown particularly sharp increases. Program achievement for 1983 was equivalent to 19% of eligible women ages 15-44 years. The total fertility rate stood at 2.7 in 1982. Major efforts now must be directed toward eradicating the strong parental son preference and ensuring better family planning program efficiency and effectiveness.     

From subsidizer to regulator— The changing role of Korean Government

Executives and analysts are increasingly interested in the relationships that have existed between the Korean Government and business, and the way these relations have changed during recent decades as the economy has developed. The paper initially divides the government's roles into three categories: subsidizer, regulator and rule-setter. By then emphasizing the roles of subsidizer and regulator, the article develops four models of business-government relations: laissez-faire, mercantilism, paternalism, and constitutionalism. Research using content analysis of Korea's economic history has revealed that the nature of business-government relations has changed from laissez-faire in an early period (1945–1960) to mercantilism in a succeeding period (1961–1972), to paternalism (1973–1979), and then most recently to constitutionalism (1980–1991). Although it is premature to predict the direction of Korean business-government relations in the future, the trends suggest that they will move toward constitutionalism as the Korean economy matures to an advanced stage.     

Complexity in applying spatial analysis to describe heterogeneous air-trapping in thoracic imaging data

In this paper we consider a novel approach to analyzing medical images by applying a concept typically employed in geospatial studies. For certain diseases, such as asthma, there is a relevant distinction between the heterogeneity of constriction in airways for patients compared to healthy individuals. In order to describe such heterogeneities quantitatively, we utilize spatial correlation in the realm of lung computer tomography (CT). Specifically, we apply the approximate profile-likelihood estimator (APLE) to simulated lung air-trapping data selected based on potential interest to pulmonologists, and we explore reference values obtainable through this statistic. Results indicate that APLE values are independent of air-trapping values, and can provide useful insight into spatial patterns of these values within the lungs in situations where other common metrics, such as the coefficient of variation, reveal little. The APLE relies on a neighborhood weights matrix to define spatial relatedness of considered regions, and among a few weight structures explored, a working optimal choice seems to be one based on the inverse distance squared between regions of interest. The application yields a new method to help analyze the degree of heterogeneity in lung CT images, which can be generalized to other medical images as well.     

Semiparametric methods in nonlinear time series analysis: a selective review

Time series analysis is a tremendous research area in statistics and econometrics. In a previous review, the author was able to break down up 15 key areas of research interest in time series analysis. Nonetheless, the aim of the review in this current paper is not to cover a wide range of somewhat unrelated topics on the subject, but the key strategy of the review in this paper is to begin with a core the ‘curse of dimensionality’ in nonparametric time series analysis, and explore further in a metaphorical domino-effect fashion into other closely related areas in semiparametric methods in nonlinear time series analysis.     

More than Money: The Importance of Social Exchanges for Temporary Low-Skilled Migrant Workers’ Workplace Satisfaction

Research has focused on the happiness of immigrants, but the workplace satisfaction of temporary low-skilled migrant workers has rarely been explored. By utilizing survey data for two years, 2010 and 2013, along with interviews with migrant workers, we explored how economic or social factors could trigger diverse impacts on the satisfaction of temporary low-skilled migrant workers in different work environments. Results showed that economic factors triggered more notable impacts in 2010, while the importance of social factors increased with improvements in work environments in 2013. The results indicated that moving motive premises and social exchange theory effectively explain attitudes of temporary low-skilled migrant workers. Theoretical and practical contributions and suggestions of the results are also included.