Economic Problems of Rural Poor Households in Korea II - Focused on the Consumption

농촌빈곤가계의 경제문제 II -소비 문제를 중심으로-

The objective of this study is to analyse consumption problems of the rural poor households. This is a succeeding work to the previous report on economic resource problems. Data from 154 rural poor house holds and 290 rural non-poor households were analysed to comprehend their consumption practices, financial management ability, consumer competence of homemakers, and market environments. The major findings and conclusions are as follows : 1. The rural poor households had deficit of 30, 000 won per month. They perceived relative importance of the educational expenses and food expenses and heavier pressure of educational expenses and light and water expenses than other items. 2. The rural poor households evaluated their financial management ability average like non-poor households but their level of consumer competence was lower than other households. This means their consumer efficiency is relatively low. 3. The rural poor households had similar grade of market environments to non-poor households. This is significantly different from urban households.