• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.321-341
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to examine income composition elements, poverty rate, and the effects of the transfer income on poverty decrease comparing grandparents-grandchildren households with living alone, couple, and living with adulthood children. Data come from the first(2005) and the second(2007) Korean Retirement and Income Study(KReIS) and the effects of poverty decrease is examined through reconstruction of LIS income definition. The main findings are as follows. First, the total income of the grandparents-grandchildren in 2006 is the lowest and about one-fourth of the households living with adulthood children. Second, the labor income of all households are increasing but the only grandparents-grandchildren's labor income is decreasing. Third, three of ten in grandparents- grandchildren households are in poverty, the poorest households's type is the grandparents-grandchildren in 2006. Fourth, four of ten in grandparents-grandchildren is able to escape poverty after including private and public transfer income. Especially, the effects of the public transfer income in grandparents-grandchildren households is lower in 2006 than in 2004, thus the role of public income security is strongly needed. Existing research was that the poorest type among the elderly group was the living-alone households, but this results show that grandparents -grandchildren households are the poorest group. Thus, income security policy is highly needed for poor skipped-generation households.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.199-237
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• 2006

The relationship between growth and distribution, which has been revealed through many empirical evidences, is that growth is distribution neutral on average and high asset inequality could be a hindrance of economic growth. The growth versus distribution dichotomy is false, as poverty reduction requires blending policy of growth and distribution both theoretically and empirically. At this present, the pro-poor growth policy, which has been recommended by the World Bank, should be urgently needed in Korea to achieve the reduction of absolute poverty through the harmony between growth and distribution. However, it is not easy to expect the reduction of absolute poverty if the Korean government, in means of reducing absolute inequality, pursues anti-polarization policy. Specifically, we cannot deny the existence of negative correlation between absolute poverty and absolute inequality on average.

• Economic Analysis
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.37-66
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• 2021

This paper examines the potential impacts of COVID-19 on poverty in ASEAN countries. The first estimate, adopted from Summer et al. (2020) and Nonvide (2020), configures three scenarios of contractions in per capita household income or consumption; the impact of each scenario on poverty is calculated using poverty lines at different thresholds. In the second estimate, poverty impacts in 2020 and 2021 were projected using regression models controlling for unobserved country effects, unbalanced data, and endogeneity. COVID-19 has been shown to have negative impacts on poverty reduction in the ASEAN Member States. To reduce poverty, concerted efforts are needed to implement policies for reducing income inequality and promoting economic growth. Such efforts will not only speed up the countries' return to pre-pandemic poverty levels but also contribute to further accelerating poverty reduction.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.57-78
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• 2004

The economic crisis in $1997{\sim}1998$ caused massive unemployment and unprecedentedly increased the number of the poor in Korea. As many unemployed families fell into poverty, the poverty rate skyrocketed to higher than 10 percent. Not later than 2000, unemployment late got back to normal and real average income among urban households approached to the income level prior to the economic crisis. Although the economic crisis has been passed through, poverty was not decreased to the low level prior to the crisis by 2000. Why does it remain high? This study attempts to provide an answer to this question by analysing the poverty trend over the 1990s. Data come from the National Survey of Household Income and Expenditures 1991, 1996, and 20001. Results show that poverty was rapidly reduced in the first half period of the 1990s. This reduction in poverty is largely explained by steady and rapid economic growth. Modest improvement in income inequality also contributed. In contrast, the poverty rate considerably increased in the latter half of the 1990s. Average income was not fully recovered to its prior level, which reflected the economic crisis and the subsequent economic stagnation. Worsened income inequality led to higher poverty rate too. In addition, demographic changes increased the share of economically vulnerable types of families, such as families headed by single parents and the elderly. The most significant factor in explaining the higher poverty rate was extended income differential among non-elderly adults, while the next was the increased number of the elderly families. Yet, findings a little differ depending on which concepts of poverty to adopt. In the analyses based on the concept of absolute poverty, economic growth the most significantly affected the poverty trends in the 1999s. Changes in income inequality played the most important role in explaining the trend in relative poverty. Adopting the concepts of quasi-absolute poverty, which is preferred in this study, results show that rapid economic growth significantly reduced poverty in the first half of the 1990s and both worsened income inequality and stagnated economic growth increased poverty in the latter 1990s.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.50
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• pp.61-85
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• 2002

Using the 2001 Family Income and Expenditure Survey micro-data, this study analyses the anti-poverty effectiveness of public and private income transfers. In this study, the anti-poverty effectiveness of income transfers is summarized in two ways; 1) the poverty reduction effect of the income transfers, and 2) the poverty reduction efficiency of the income transfers. The poverty reduction effects are measured with several poverty indices including the head-count ratio, poverty gap, and Sen index. Using Beckerman's model, this study also analyses the poverty reduction efficiency of income transfers. This analysis documents substantial differences in the anti-poverty effectiveness of public and private income transfers. Although the private income transfers contribute more to reduce the head-count poverty ratio and Sen index than public income transfers, their differences are significantly reduced after the enactment of National Basic Livelihood Security Act. The results also reveal that the anti-poverty effectiveness of public and private income transfers vary by the types of families. In families headed by elderly and working aged, private income transfers have more anti-poverty effectiveness. But, public income transfers contribute more to reduce poverty than private income transfers among families headed by single adults with children. The results of this study suggest that recent changes in anti-poverty policies in Korea have been strengthened the Government's responsibility. And more importantly, to effectively reduce poverty among the poor families, anti-poverty polices must be designed to consider different family types.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.39
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• pp.157-179
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• 1999

This study is an empirical research to analyze how many private income transfers in Korea decrease poverty rate, to compare the effects of private income transfers' decreasing poverty rate with income classes. This study has utilised the Family Income and Expenditure Survey to estimate the poverty ratio in urban areas and Unemployment Household Survey which Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs has investigated at 1998. Majour findins are these. First, Sizes of private transfers incomes are much than that of public transfers incomes. The rates in receiving private transfers income are ten times higher than that in receiving public transfers income among urban worker's household. The mean of private transfer income are about six times larger than that of public transfer income among urban worker's household. Second, the effects of private income transfers' reducing poverty rates are not large. After private transfers, urbarn workers' households are about 10 per cent away from its poverty line, and unemploy households are only 3 per cent away from its poverty line. Third, especially, private income transfers are hardly reducing poverty rates among extreme poverty class. After private transfers, urban workers' households which their incomes are within low 5%, are not away from its poverty line at all.

• 한국노년학
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.111-127
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• 2011

The study aims to analyse whether Korea and Taiwan have reduced the elderly poverty effectively through income transfer system in a comparative perspective. It covers 12 Western welfare states and 2 East Asian welfare states(korea and Taiwan). Utilising Luxembourg Income Study(LIS) datasets, empirical analyses focus on old-age income mix and poverty reduction effects of income transfer. Major findings are as follows. Frist, whilst public transfer income takes a major part in old-age income mix in Western welfare states, Korea and Taiwan reveal genuine mixed states - i.e., the relative proportion of private transfers and market income are high. Secondly, public transfers have effectively reduced the old-age poverty in Western welfare state. However, thirdly, those effects are still limited in Korea and Taiwan. Rather, the poverty reduction effects of private transfers are relatively high. Based on the empirical findings, the study suggests future research agendas and policy implications.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.55
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• pp.181-204
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to offer a comprehensive analysis of the changing trends of the Korean income packaging, poverty rate, and level of income inequality from 1996 to 2002. In order to do that, this study used the micro-data of "Income and Expenditure Survey of Urban Households" by the National Statistical Office(NSO). Major results were as follows: (1) A ratio of public transfer in family income packaging increased at the DJ administration. (2) Poverty rate and Gini coefficient, which were 7.8% and 0.29 in 1996, rose to $8.8{\sim}10.4%$ and $0.30{\sim}0.34$ respectively during the year of 1998-2002. (3) However, poverty reduction effect and income inequality reduction effect of public income transfer increased preferably at the DJ administration. Those effects increased more since the enactment of National Basic Livelihood Security in 2000. Therefore, government should provide more national welfare programs to reduce the poverty rate and to improve better structure of income distribution.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.267-274
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• 2021

This paper examines the impact of the Basic Pension scheme in terms of poverty reduction and income distribution among elderly households by focusing on the differences in the household type. It compares the data before (2013) and after (2016, 2019) the introduction of Basic Pension by using Household Income and Expenditure Survey data. Empirical analyses indicate that, first, the overall income and the public income transfer of the elderly households increased during the period compared. Second, the poverty rate was considerably higher for the elderly living alone than for other household types. The government policy led to poverty-reduction for all types of elderly households, wherein the effect was most profound in the case of elderly living with spouse. Third, income distribution improved for all types of elderly households, though maximum margin was observed in the case of the elderly living alone. Fourth, according to the multivariate logit regression, the Basic Pension had a positive impact on reducing the risk of poverty (defined as below 40% of median income) among the elderly households.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.5-28
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• 2017

Using 2006~2015 Korean Welfare Panel Survey data, this study analyzed the poverty reduction effects of social security benefits. The results show that social security benefits have substantial impacts on reducing the poverty gap. National Basic Livelihood Security, public pensions, and Basic Pension have relatively larger poverty reduction effects. Other benefits such as disability benefits, workers' compensation unemployment insurance, and childcare subsidies have much smaller poverty impacts. Two determining factors of the poverty reduction effect are (1)the amount and (2)the poverty reduction efficiency of social security benefits. With the expansion of the social security system in recent years, the poverty reduction efficiency has decreased in general. Due to a greater increase in the amount of benefits, however, the poverty reduction effect has gradually increased. In order to increase the anti-poverty effect of social security, it is important to find ways to improve efficiency while minimizing the disadvantages of the selectivistic welfare benefits.