• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.3-38
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• 2021

Does Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) exacerbate income inequality in South Korea? If so, does rising income inequality come for the sake of economic growth? This study explores the impact of FDI on income inequality and growth in South Korea. To this end, we collect data on FDI and income inequality/economic growth at both national and provincial levels and empirically test their relationships in South Korea. The empirical results confirm our expectation that FDI magnifies income inequality. Furthermore, we fail to find a positive relationship between FDI and economic growth, implying that income inequality as a consequence of FDI does not come for the sake of economic growth in Korea. Findings suggest that more systematic research and nuanced policy design is necessary to circumvent the mechanisms at play that link the surge of FDI inflows and the exponential expansion of economic inequality.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.305-312
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• 2022

Each country's economic progress creates opportunities for its citizens to raise their income. Meanwhile, the country has secured the people's social security policies, particularly the protection of income equality, to promote harmonious and sustained economic development. Vietnam has been located in a dynamic economic development area in Southeast Asia since the 1986 economic reforms, with an annual growth rate of around 7%. Meanwhile, having achieved a middle-income status of roughly 3500 USD per person per year, Vietnam is attempting to maintain income equality and access to welfare systems for its inhabitants. As a result, the primary goal of this study is to use an autoregressive distributed lagged model to investigate the effects of income inequality and other economic factors such as foreign direct investment and trade openness on Vietnam's economic growth from 1992 to 2019. The research focuses attention on literature on income inequality, economic development indicators, and economic development in unique ways in this study. Income inequality slows the rate of change in economic development in the same year, according to our findings. Finally, the study will make policy suggestions to the Vietnamese government.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.111-130
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• 2001

Using the 1996 Expenditure Survey of Urban Famines from the Korea National Statistics Office, this study examines the economic status and the inequality of the elderly households. To explain the inequality of the single elderly households, this study divides the elderly into three groups of single, couple, and Living with admit children, and compares the total household income, total household expenditure and the net saving amount of these three groups. The results of Gini coefficients and Lorenz curries show that the inequality is higher in the single elderly household than couple elderly households or living with adult children elderly households. To investigate the reason of the inequality, this study compares the income, expenditure, and net saving amount by working condition of the household head in each three group. The result implies the need of employment to get household income especially for the single elderly who are in the higher inequality economic condition.

• STI Policy Review
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 2016

This study provides empirical evidences for the relationship between income inequality and economic growth, and relationship of income inequality with some of explanatory variables such as technological innovation, trade globalization, financial globalization and fiscal policy. We find out that income inequality has an adverse effect on economic growth, showing its dynamic features, for which we employed the polynomial distributed lags (PDL) model. The effect of income inequality on economic growth lasts over 9 years, and its dynamic effect peaks after 4 years. In addition, we also attempted to find out empirical evidences of sources of income inequality. The results show that income inequality is positively related to technological innovation, financial globalization, and fiscal policy; negatively related to the trade globalization. Many studies employ cross-country data, but it could have serious problems in collecting statistical data. Korean data is used over the time period of 1990-2015 in this study.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.8
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• pp.681-693
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• 2020

This study sees a critical gap in the previous body of research, which it seeks to fill; the disclosure of the unemployment ratio correlation has only been measured by the level of economic growth. This study is to add investment variables and government expenditure variables that objectively aim to measure the level of effectiveness in handling the unemployment ratio, which is then a measurement of the effectiveness of unemployment. Economic growth is measured by its impact on income inequality through empirical, conceptual relationships as a critical review and economic strategy for the future. The research uses secondary data on Indonesian macro and microeconomics since 2003-2018, then testing uses a quantitative approach to correlation, regression, and scatterplot. The results of this study show correlations between variables, and volatiles on the graphs show a similar trend. In other words, variables are bound together and support each other. The strategy of prioritizing the scale of government expenditure and investment to reach the target is the primary concern, so that the economic cycle can be optimal and equipped to face the possibility of an economic recession in the future. Many factors cause complex income inequality, though investment does not show a correlation to income inequality.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.10
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• pp.571-579
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• 2020

This paper examines how human capital and other economic variables, such as private investment, economic growth, government investment, inflation, and unemployment influence inequality in Indonesia's provinces. We apply panel data model with fixed effect estimation for the data of 34 provinces from the period 2013 to 2019. We develop a new index for human capital using the education index approach. The results show that human capital has a negative and significant effect on income inequality. An increase in human capital is related to an increase in knowledge and competence due to the longer average school year and expectations of the school year. Human capital has increased the possibility of a person being accepted into the job market and earning a higher income; hence, it lowers income inequality. We also find that inflation leads to a higher gap of income distribution. A further implication of this situation is that the rise in inflation causes an increase in low-income people, and as a consequence, makes their lives worse off. This paper will be beneficial for policy-makers for whom human capital, which is measured using an education index, is an important factor that significantly affects income inequality, in addition to other economic factors.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.10
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• pp.73-85
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• 2020

As an effort to achieve sustainable development and increase people's welfare, financial inclusion has become the policy agenda of many countries. Therefore, the effect of financial inclusion on economic growth, poverty, income inequality, and financial stability in several countries in Asia has become the goal and this is the subject of this study. Financial inclusion is measured by 3 dimensions, namely banking penetration, access to banking services, and use of banking services. Poverty ratio below the national poverty line and the Gini coefficient are used as indicators of poverty and income inequality. Financial stability is measured by Bank Z-Score and bank nonperforming loans. The results from the hypothesis test shows that all dimensions of financial stability simultaneously have significant influence on economic growth, poverty, income inequality, and financial stability. On the other hand, the partial impact of financial inclusion dimension on economic growth, poverty alleviation, income inequality, and financial stability in ten countries of Asia has not been optimal. The derived results of this study is required to be interpreted and considered by the Governments of each country in developing strategies for increasing financial inclusion, so that the policy to achieve sustainable development and enhancement of people's welfare can be achieved.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.263-287
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• 2021

Researches on inequality in Korean society has been sporadically conducted in various areas. In this study, research trend related to inequality was analyzed through basic statistical analysis, co-occurrence analysis, and main path analysis using articles related to inequality from Korea citation index. In basic statistical analysis, key authors, journals, and articles are identified. In co-occurrence analysis, income inequality, educational inequality, welfare inequality, and policy on inequality were identified as main topics. Main path analysis showed two research trends after 2004. One was research trend on economic inequality, and the other was on health inequality and social structural inequality.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.111-122
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• 2021

The main purpose of the present research is to analyze the effects of trade, financial globalization, and technological progress on income inequality in the Indian economy over the period from 1982 to 2018. For this purpose, the study uses economic growth, financial globalization, trade openness, technological development, and economic inequality variables with appropriate proxies. The study employs the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to co-integration and VECM based Granger causality approach to estimate both the short-run and long-run relationship and causality among variables. Using the ARDL bounds test, the study finds a long-run co-integrating relationship existing among the variables in the model. The study confirms the existence of a positive and significant impact of technological progress on income inequality. Further, globalization's limited impact reflects two offsetting tendencies; trade globalization is associated with a reduction in income inequality, while financial globalization is related to an increase in inequality. The results of VECM based Granger causality approach further confirm that technological progress, trade, and financial globalization causes income inequality both directly and indirectly through economic growth and inflation. In case of India, the results of this research can significantly facilitate stakeholders and policymakers in devising policies towards effective globalization and technological innovation for inclusive growth.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.175-203
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• 2021

Over the past decades, financial markets have been integrated across countries while income inequality has increased in most countries. This paper studies the effect of financial market integration on income inequality and investigates whether this effect varies with the degree of financial market development. We find empirical evidence that financial market integration and financial market development interact to change income inequality. Specifically, the effect of financial market integration on income inequality is nonlinear, and the degree of financial market development plays an important role. Opening financial markets worsens income inequality in the countries holding the underdeveloped state of financial markets, however, the effect of capital account openness on income inequality is statistically insignificant in the countries with developed financial markets.