• Journal of Labour Economics
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.13-38
• /
• 2001

The question about whether a shorter workweek may increase employment has been a serious issue and been furiously debated among collective bargainers. The advocators recommend publicly that a reduction in standard working hours will provide benefits to the unemployed through the provision of new jobs, and also can improve the quality of life workers. The opponents argue that a shorter workweek will increase labor costs and induce firms to reduce their production levels, and consequently cut back their demand for labor. Although the debate is still continuing, considerable has been made toward achieving the goal workweek reduction. The analytical framework of this paper is a Putty-clay-model, in which the short-and long-term impacts of changes in working time on the employment associated with the interrelations of wages, prices, hourly labour productivity, the firm's labor demand, business cycle and economic growth etc. must be analyzed.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.131-139
• /
• 2015

With the request for the advent of new engine toward economic growth, the issue regarding public-owned data disclosure has been increasing. The Korean governments are forced to open public-owned data and to utilize them in solving the various social problems and in promoting the welfare for the people. In contrast, due to the distrust of the effectiveness for the policy, many public owned organizations hesitate to open the public-owned data. However, in spite of communication gap between the government and public organizations, Ministry of Government Administration and National Information Society Agency recently planned to accelerate the information disclosure. The study aims to analyze the perception of the public organization for public data utilization and to provide proper recommendations. This research identified mutual weights that the organization recognize in opening and sharing the public data, based on benefit, opportunity, cost, and risk. ANP decision making tool and BOCR model were applied to the analyses. The results show that there are significant differences in perceiving risk and opportunity elements between the government and public organizations. Finally, the study proposed the ideal alternatives based on four elements. The study will hopefully provide the guideline to the public organizations, and assist the related authorities with the information disclosure policy in coming up with the relevant regulations.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.13 no.9
• /
• pp.37-45
• /
• 2015

Purpose - This paper's aim is to investigate whether or not gross profitability explains the cross-sectional variation of the stock returns in the Korean stock market. Gross profitability is an alternative profitability measure proposed by Novy-Marx in 2013 to predict cross-sectional variation of stock returns in the US. He shows that the gross profitability adds explanatory power to the Fama-French 3 factor model. Interestingly, gross profitability is negatively correlated with the book-to-market ratio. By confirming the gross profitability premium in the Korean stock market, we may provide some implications regarding the well-known value premium. In addition, our empirical results may provide opportunities for the fund distribution industry to promote brand new styles of funds. Research design, data, and methodology - For our empirical analysis, we collect monthly market prices of all the companies listed on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) of the Korea Exchanges (KRX). Our sample period covers July1994 to December2014. The data from the company financial statementsare provided by the financial information company WISEfn. First, using Fama-Macbeth cross-sectional regression, we investigate the relation between gross profitability and stock return performance. For robustness in analyzing the performance of the gross profitability strategy, we consider value weighted portfolio returns as well as equally weighted portfolio returns. Next, using Fama-French 3 factor models, we examine whether or not the gross profitability strategy generates excess returns when firmsize and the book-to-market ratio are controlled. Finally, we analyze the effect of firm size and the book-to-market ratio on the gross profitability strategy. Results - First, through the Fama-MacBeth cross-sectional regression, we show that gross profitability has almost the same explanatory power as the book-to-market ratio in explaining the cross-sectional variation of the Korean stock market. Second, we find evidence that gross profitability is a statistically significant variable for explaining cross-sectional stock returns when the size and the value effect are controlled. Third, we show that gross profitability, which is positively correlated with stock returns and firm size, is negatively correlated with the book-to-market ratio. From the perspective of portfolio management, our results imply that since the gross profitability strategy is a distinctive growth strategy, value strategies can be improved by hedging with the gross profitability strategy. Conclusions - Our empirical results confirm the existence of a gross profitability premium in the Korean stock market. From the perspective of the fund distribution industry, the gross profitability portfolio is worthy of attention. Since the value strategy portfolio returns are negatively correlated with the gross profitability strategy portfolio returns, by mixing both portfolios, investors could be better off without additional risk. However, the profitable firms are dissimilar from the value firms (high book-to-market ratio firms); therefore, an alternative factor model including gross profitability may help us understand the economic implications of the well-known anomalies such as value premium, momentum, and low volatility. We reserve these topics for future research.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.9 no.6
• /
• pp.47-64
• /
• 2014

Considering the network externality and spill-over effects, this paper constructs the theoretical model for analyzing the financial policies focusing on the credit guarantee system for Creative Economy, which has been set as the new policy paradigm for the Korean Economy. The analytical results show that it is as much as important to improve the efficiency of the financial markets and construct the infrastructure for reducing the information asymmetry problem which would be more serious in the creative finance. Although it is important to fill the gap due to the market failure it is also crucial to construct the appropriate financial schemes for the various stages of the innovative firms growth. Without these, the impacts of current public funding policies may crowd out the amount of private market funds for the innovative firms or reduce the possibility of commercialization of new technologies in these firms. Based on the evaluation of current related public policies from the perspectives of creative finance, we imply that the current financial policies appear to be quantity oriented not the quality based. Although the policy goals would be appropriately set for vitalizing the Creative Economy in Korea, they appear to be still unsuccessful to address the information asymmetry issue which is the major concern in vitalizing the creative economy. Thus we emphasize the market friendly policies, risk-sharing between the various market participants, revitalizing the relationship banking and efficient management of credit guarantee system in Korea based on the analytical model as well as the evaluation of related policies regarding the creative economy.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.249-258
• /
• 2019

Acid spill accidents are frequently occurring in Korea with increasing production, use, storage, and transport of acids, accompanying industrialization and economic growth. The acids introduced to the subsurface environments would eventually be neutralized by reactions with geomedia. However, the spatial and temporal extent to which the spilled acids would affect will be dependent on the characteristics of the geomedia exposed to the acids. In this work, sulfuric acid, the most used acid in Korea, was reacted with a set of model geomedia representative of the geology of Korea. The buffering capacity of the model geomedia was determined through batch-type experiments using pH changes as an indicator. X-ray diffraction was used to identify the mineral phases contributing to the acid neutralization. The results showed that sandstone had the largest acid neutralization capacity among the tested geomedia, while kaolinite had the smallest. The findings of this study would contribute to quantitatively assessing the impact of spilled acids on geomedia and hence to predicting the vulnerability of geomedia to the spilled acid.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.21-39
• /
• 1991

This paper introduces a two-sector model to analyze the real and monetary determinants of Korea's real exchange rate. So far, most studies on Korea's exchange rate have concentrated on the behavior of nominal exchange rate, but this study proposes a dynamic model of real exchange rate behavior in developing countries and estimates the real and financial determinants of Korea's real exchange rate behavior. The estimation was performed over the period of 1980-89. The results show many interesting things. First, the monetary and fiscal expansion led to a real appreciation, which suggests that the monetary and fiscal stances be kept sound for a real depreciation. Second, the improvement in the terms of trade led to a real depreciation. This experience is in the contrast to the popular view that the improvement in the terms of trade will result in a real appreciation. Third, the productivity growth led to a real appreciation, but this effect of the Ricardo-Balassa type was not significant. Finally, the nominal devaluation was quite effective to produce a real depreciation. This result also supports Korea's exchange rate policy in the 1980s which was based upon the real target approach instead of nominal anchor approach.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.51-61
• /
• 2010

According as the quality of life is improved along with economic growth, in the road plan and design sector also, it is now progressed that function oriented design is changed into the landscape oriented design that considers eyesight and emotion, which are psychological properties of users. Accordingly this study tries to come up with reasonable and objective methods to extract various emotional adjectives, which were found by the survey, while minimizing difference among characteristics of emotion and cognition of individuals. First, given semantic differential, based on various emotional adjectives that were found through the survey with the scale up to five points, the author extracted representative emotional adjectives through an element analysis, which is a conventional method of the previous research, and through an identification analysis which is suggested by this study, and then established model I of Quantification. And by using the established quantification model, the author presumed satisfaction degree, and through verifying pair wise comparison with actual satisfaction degree, the author found the results from identification and correlation analysis methods are most similar to actual satisfaction degree. As a result, the author could check the above emotional and correlation analyses were appropriate methods for comprehending which emotional elements are applicable when a continuous road landscape is designed by identification and correlation analyses.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.169-197
• /
• 2013

Despite many theoretical and empirical studies, general causality between IPRs system, firm technological innovation and financial performance is not clear. This study notices that the core factor to create financial performance is different by each industry. The study analyzed the effect of IPRs system on innovation and economic growth targeting 3 industries; pharmaceutical industry to which the basic track of creating performance is applied (strengthening IPRs${\rightarrow}$increasing R&D input/output${\rightarrow}$increasing sales); semiconductor industry where the relationship between stronger IPRs and R&D input/output is weak; and shipbuilding industry which has weak correlation between R&D and sales. It used panel data for 15 years since TRIPs when the patent institution in Korea reached up to the level of advanced countries, and applied the dynamic regression model which estimates the fixed effect model with difference-GMM. As a result, stronger IPRs increased R&D input/output, and financial performance in pharmaceutical industry, but has no influence on semiconductor and shipbuilding industries. That is, it is necessary to customize the construction of system and policy for strengthening IPRs by each industry, and unitary strengthening or weakening may have no significant impact on financial performance improvement in specific sectors.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.12 no.9
• /
• pp.357-368
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the impact of enterprise R&D investment on international trade in Korea under the new Normal Era. In order to test whether the time series data of trade variables are stationary or not, we put in operation unit root test and cointegration test. Based on VECM (Vector Error Correction Model), we also apply impulse response functions and variance decomposition to estimate the dynamic effects in the short-run and long-run. The results show that the relationship between enterprise R&D investment and international trade (export and import) exists in the long-run as well as in the short-run. The results of applying impulse response functions and variance decomposition also indicate that the impact of enterprise R&D investment on international trade is positive, and a significant portion of fluctuations in the trade variable is explained by enterprise R&D investment. Therefore, enterprise R&D investment must be continuously increased to improve economic growth with promoting trading competition power in Korea under the new Normal Era.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.22 no.4 s.28
• /
• pp.542-554
• /
• 1989

The skyrocketing inflation of medical costs has become a major health problem among most developed countries. Korea, which recently covered the entire population with National Health Insurance, is facing the same problem. The proportion of health expenditure to GNP has increased from 3% to 4.8% during the last decade. This was remarkable, if we consider the rapid economic growth during that time. A few policy analysts began to raise cost containment as an agenda, after recognizing the importance of medical cost inflation. In order to Prepare an appropriate alternative for the agenda, it is necessary to find out reasons for the cost inflation. Then, we should focus on the reasons which are controllable, and those whose control are socially desirable. This study is designed to articulate the theory of medical cost inflation through literature reviews, to find out reasons for cost inflation, by analyzing aggregated data with a deterministic model. Finally to identify determinants of changes in both medical demand and service intensity which are major reasons for cost inflation. The reasons for cost inflation are classified into cost push inflation and demand pull inflation, The former consists of increases in price and intensity of services, while the latter is made of consumer derived demand and supplier induced demand. We used a time series (1983-1987), and cross sectional (over regions) data of health insurance. The deterministic model reveals, that an increase in service intensity is a major cause of inflation in the case of inpatient care, while, more utilization, is a primary attribute in the case of physician visits. Multiple regression analysis shows that an increase in hospital beds is a leading explanatory variable for the increase in hospital care. It also reveals, that an introduction of a deductible clause, an increase in hospital beds and degree of urbanization, are statistically significant variables explaining physician visits. The results are consistent with the existing theory, The magnitude of service intensity is influenced by the level of co-payment, the proportion of old age and an increase in co-payment. In short, an increase in co-payment reduced the utilization, but it induced more intensities or services. We can conclude that the strict fee regulation or increase in the level of co-payment can not be an effective measure for cost containment under the fee for service system. Because the provider can react against the regulation by inducing more services.