• 한국노년학
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.611-632
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• 2016

Solutions for elderly health issues need to be found that take into account not only a medical perspective, but also interactions with social conditions such as socioeconomic status. With this in mind, this study aims to understand how socioeconomic status leads to health inequalities for the elderly. Specifically, this study investigates the mediating effects of socioeconomic status(income and education levels), health activities as an intermediary of the three dimensions of physical health(medical health, functional health, subjective health), accessibility of medical facilities, social participation, and social network. To test the research model, a secondary data analysis was conducted on the 2014 National Survey of Senior Citizens. The participants of the study were 10,451 elderly men and women aged 65 and above. To test the mediated model, hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted following the procedures suggested by Baron and Kenny(1986). In addition, a Sobel test was conducted to test the mediated model's significance. According to the analysis, the effects of income and educational levels on the health of the elderly were not the same. Additionally, different results were found depending on health dimensions. However, the overall direction of the results showed that the socioeconomic status of the elderly creates health disparities, and health behaviors, accessibility of medical facilities, social participation, and social network had significant mediation effects between socioeconomic status and physical health. Study findings especially worth noting are as follows: education was shown to have a stronger effect on health than income; effects of social integration factors such as social participation were highlighted; and significant mediating effects on the accessibility of medical facilities remained even after taking residential area into account. Results of this study shed light on health inequality mechanisms due to socioeconomic conditions and the need to find alternatives to alleviate these problems.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.332-345
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• 2020

This study sought to explore the demand in the social service sector and present policy implications, focusing on the vulnerable in rural villages exposed to worse conditions amid the Covid-19 crisis. To this end, the social service needs of vulnerable groups by household type were analyzed by utilizing the raw data of the 2018 Survey on Rural Well-Being. Analysis showed that the greatest demand social services for all rural villages, the elderly, the disabled, one-person, one elderly and low-income households were income support services, while in household that included children the demand was for childcare and education-related services. The second-highest social services in terms of demand were cultural leisure vacation support services for all rural villages, healthcare-related services for the elderly, the disabled, one elderly and low-income households, cultural leisure vacation support services for households including children and daily life support services for single-person households. Based on these results, a measure was proposed to support social services, tailored to vulnerable groups in rural villages. In addition, the government's lack of a consultation system between urban and rural welfare policies, such as a basic plan for health and welfare in rural villages, led this paper to discuss the need for a feedback function and dedicated formulation of mid- to long-term policies in rural villages. It also proposed the establishment of conditions for providing customized social services for rural villages.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.437-451
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that influence commuting patterns of Seoul residents after the construction of new towns. To find the determinants of commuting time for residents with jobs in Seoul, a multiple regression analysis is performed using household survey data. Overall, the findings present a plausible picture of the spatial configuration in Seoul, where younger residents with growing families move out to the suburbs to become owners of apartment homes, and drive or use mass transportation to get to work. As they get older and wealthier, other things being equal, they gravitate towards the city centre in order to reduce the time wasted on commuting. While their occupations appear to play little role, it seems that the entrapment hypothesis on female workers is supported as well. In addition, excess commuting is still prevalent due to jobs-housing mismatch in Seoul, although it is less severe than in the past. Based on these results, planners should devise better strategies to solve the inefficient commuting problem.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.585-602
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• 2011

This study is to investigate the long run convergence behavior of the housing rent of Korean 21 cities, by using the Phillips and Sul (2007)'s newly developed panel convergence test method. The empirical result shows that the 21 Korean cities nationwide converge in four different groups according to the level of convergence. The 1st group is composed of 3 Seoul metropolitan cities, the 2nd group is composed of Bucheon, the 3rd group is composed of 10 cities such as Busan, Daegu, etc, and the 4th group is composed of 7 cities including Jeonju and Mokpo etc. About the speed of convergence among the member cities within the group, the 1st group has the highest speed and next the 4th group, followed by the 2nd group, and finally the 3rd group. The fact that the member cities of the 1st group with the highest rent level and the 4th group with the lowest rent level converges rapidly means the polarization of rent between the two groups. Finally, this paper suggests policy implications to relax the widening gap of individual income between the higher and the lower rent convergent groups.

• Economic Analysis
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.66-122
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• 2019

As the Korean economy grew, employment expanded steadily, with the number of economically active people increasing and the employment-to-population rate also increasing. However, the working age population started to decline in 2017, and the employment of women and young people has been sluggish. The proportion of non-salaried workers in Korea is much higher than in other OECD countries, and is also excessive, considering Korea's income levels. In addition, the proportion of non-regular workers and the proportion of workers employed at small companies are particularly high among salaried workers. In light of these characteristics of Korean employment, the urgent problems facing the employment structure can be summarized by the deepening dual structure of the labor market, the increase in youth unemployment, sluggish female employment figures, and an excessive share of self-employment. Overall, it is seen that labor market duality is the main structural factor of the employment problems in Korea. Therefore, in order to fundamentally address this employment problem, it is necessary to concentrate policy efforts on alleviating labor market duality.

• 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.