• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.305-336
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• 2022

This study applied the macro-micro simulation model (i.e., what-if analysis) to investigate the impact of transport related to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on poverty and income inequality in Laos. We selected Laos as a case study of a developing country. We used the standard GTAP model with the GTAP database (version 10) for the macrosimulation, whereas we used the household model with the latest Lao household data from 2019 for the microsimulation. Our findings revealed that the output of the Lao economy was anticipated to increase by up to 0.3%, while the poverty rate was anticipated to decline from 17.0% to 15.7%. However, there would be winners and losers in industries and groups of households in different areas. In particular, rich households with a comparative socioeconomic advantage, such as in education, engagement in nonfarm business, and infrastructure access, would mostly gain benefits; consequently, this would lead to higher inequality in Laos. Therefore, the inequality index (i.e., the Gini coefficient) would increase from 41.2 to 60.1. After a simulation of BRI transport, we also found that some nonpoor households, which are mainly associated with farm activities and lower educational levels, would fall into poverty.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.110-143
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• 1996

The purpose of this study is to assess the extent of inequality in health outcomes and the distribution of health services according to health need under National Health Insurance System in Korea. For the empirical analysis, data were collected through an interview survey during one month of October, 1994. Interview were conducted with a total of 10, 875 of the employees and the self-employed selected through cluster, systematic sampling. The major findings of this research are as follows: 1. The analysis of the differentials in morbidity rates by socio-economic group showed that health inequality in the pro-higher groups existed in all self-reported morbidity indicators. 2. The findings of the conventional use measures showed that the lower socio-economic groups had more ambulatory and inpatient services than the higher groups. In contrast to the level of the medical care utilization, however, the higher socio-economic groups were more likely to use the high-quality source of care in terms of their treatment place compared to the lower groups. 3. By using the need-based use measures, the results were different from each use-disability ration indicator. Using the use-disability ration measured by physician visits per 100 restricted-activity days in the population, it was found that there was no evidence favoring the higher socio-economic groups. In contrast, the use-disability ration based on physician visits per a chronic patient in one year displayed that there was remarkable relative difference by income group as well as the evidence of the pro-higher income groups. 4. The results of logistic regression analysis and two-stage estimation method indicated that although the utilization is significantly affected by type and duration of insurance coverage, the use or nonuse of service and the volume of physician care consumed is determined by health need and demographic characteristics rater than economic status. In sum, these findings suggest that physician service is equitably distributed according to health need under national health insurance system in Korea. As there were some evidences of inequality including the differential in physician visits of chronic patients by income group, however, the government should strengthen the activities to guarantee the equity of health services utilization.

• Journal of rehabilitation welfare engineering & assistive technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.239-244
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• 2014

This research was carried out for the purpose of providing basic data to establish a policy for improving health and medical service inequality in the disabled's households, by analyzing it according to composed groups through the application of data about the panel survey of the employment for the disabled, from 2010 to 2012. The results of analysis showed that as for Gini's coefficient, disabled women, the disabled without participation in economic activities, the disabled in their 40s, physically handicapped people and severely disabled people had more and more inequality in expenditure of health care expenses, and inequality in North Gyeongsang Province continued to be on the rise. As for the entropy coefficient, disabled women, the disabled without participation in economic activities, the mentally disabled and severely disabled people had more and more inequality in consumption of health care, and the inequality got severe in Ulsan and North Gyeongsang Province. And as for the decomposition of factors by composed group, inequality in health care expenses were higher inside a group than between groups. Based on these results, research limitations and implications were suggested.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.253-273
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• 2020

This paper investigates the impact of the effective minimum wage, defined as the log difference between the minimum and the median wages, on wage inequalities in the OECD countries. Unlike the previous studies that focus on single countries in which the minimum wage has no cross-sectional variation and rely instead on within-country variations of wage distribution across regions or socio-economic characteristics, we use a country panel that allows for both cross-sectional and time-series variations in minimum wage. We also control for more factors than in the previous studies whose absence may cause endogeneity. Our results confirm the previous findings that increases in minimum wage alleviate the wage inequality at the lower tail of the wage distribution, while having little effect at the upper tail. The estimated effect is larger for women than for men, which is consistent with the fact that the share of workers who are directly affected by the changes in minimum wage is bigger among women than men. An application of the IVs of Autor, Manning and Smith (2016) supports the robustness of our findings.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.175-203
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• 2024

With the enactment of international free trade and economic agreements and cooperation, BIMP-EAGA is an opportunity to accelerate development and economic growth in eastern Indonesia. This subregional cooperation could be used to reduce the development gap or inequality between the western and eastern regions, which are geographically, demographically, and economically different. This cooperation also may accelerate development in the border area. This study analyzes Indonesia's policies related to connectivity in BIMP-EAGA subregional cooperation and its implementation. The study results show that the National Secretariat of Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation has encouraged cooperation clusters ranging from natural resources, transportation, infrastructure, ICT, and tourism to MSMEs. In terms of connectivity, Indonesia is also involved in the development program of three economic corridors, namely West Borneo, East Borneo, and Sulu-Sulawesi. Indonesia's involvement in the three corridors has boosted the connectivity of Indonesia's territory, especially border areas, with neighboring countries. Connectivity has covered not only physical but also institutional and people-to-people dimensions. However, there are still several challenges, ranging from the standardization of the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine (CIQ) mechanisms, improvement of institutional quality, and consistent strong political will among the involved parties. In addition, considering the vulnerability of the BIMP subregion to transnational crimes and acts of radical terrorism, BIMP-EAGA needs to think about solutions to overcome these cross-border security problems so that the momentum of development in the subregion may be sustained.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.359-374
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• 2023

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the transformation of Chinese regional development policy and trends in spatial inequality in mainland China. More specifically, it has attempted to identify the effects of Chinese regional development policies on regional economic inequality by investigating the coefficient of variation and Gini coefficient with GRDP in the province level. Regional inequality in China had increased from 1979 economic reform, but has eased since the 10th Five Year Plan(2001~2005) due to large-scale state investments in the western, central and northeastern regions. However, the analysis is likely to be resulted from the national level. Trends in regional inequality are differentiated in accordance with the eastern, central, northeastern and western regions. For example, regional inequality in the central region has increased, whereas other three regions has decreased since the 10th Five Year Plan. It has played a role in cutting down regional inequality in the national level. In particular, the central region has kept inequality since the 12th Five Year Guideline. It has led to the convergence of the regional economies in the national level. It has stemmed from some limits to greater regional policies in the Central region enforced in the 11th Five Year Guideline(2005~2010).

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.10
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• pp.249-257
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• 2021

Industrial agglomeration policy is a strategy that is expected to accelerate economic growth to transform an impoverished region into a prosperous one. However, industrial agglomeration also has the potential to exacerbate development inequality due to the concentration of economic development activities in certain areas. Therefore, this study aims to investigate what strategies are best to minimize the adverse effects of industrial agglomeration. This study uses econometric analysis with panel data covering 38 districts/cities in East Java during the 2011-2019 period. The results showed that the combination of industrial agglomeration policies coupled with accelerated sectoral growth, hard infrastructure development, and soft infrastructure provided the best policy outcome, improving regional inequality and accelerating economic growth in East Java. Based on the analysis, we find that East Java's economic growth characteristics are convergent but relatively long. Therefore, the East Java economic development policy during 2010-2019 should be reviewed due to the relatively long convergence period. Furthermore, this study also found that industrial agglomeration slows down the convergence and economic growth of East Java. In the future, the deployment of Industrial Development Centers (PPI) outside the existing eight districts/cities is needed to accelerate the spread of economic activity in East Java.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.111-118
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• 2020

This paper examines the impacts of credit on income inequality in Vietnam. Though it is one of the most common measures of financial development, there is a dearth of research in this area. Unlike previous studies, the paper disaggregates the impact of each type of credit on income inequality, looking at the Gini coefficient. We employ the Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) to solve the endogenous problem. The primary data set contains a panel of 60 Provincial observations, from data collected from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam from 2002 to 2016. The empirical findings show that, while commercial credit increases income inequality, policy credit contributes to reducing income inequality in Vietnam. The results also confirm the important roles of education, institutional quality and foreign direct investment in fighting against income inequality in Vietnam. However, the paper does not provide adequate evidence to support the inverted U-shaped relationship between credit and income inequality. Based on the findings, we argue that the government should direct flows of credit to real economic activities rather than speculative investment; more bank credit should be allocated to rural areas and agriculture; and favorable credit programs should be designed to promote education, especially of those living in rural areas.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.422-430
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• 2007

The socioeconomic inequalities in health have recently become an important public health concern in South Korea, and the issue has gained increasing attention from many South Korean researchers due to the increasing income inequality and Widening social polarization following its economic crisis in the late 1990s. However, despite the mounting literature on health inequalities published in recent years, the history of research on health inequality in South Korea is premature in comparison to the long histories in several Western countries. Understanding the historical background underlying the issue of health inequality research may aid in establishing and accumulating scientifically solid evidence in South Korea. It may also direct the South Korean research community to develop research agendas that are. more politically and academically appropriate for South Korean society. This paper describes the historical development of health inequality research in the West and introduces several important issues contributing to the advancement of health inequality research. Specifically, the major studies conducted before and after the UK Black Report are presented. In addition, the history and current status of health inequality research in South Korea are documented and evaluated. Finally, several research agendas for the quantitative and qualitative improvement of health inequality research in South Korea are proposed.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.11
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• pp.21-29
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• 2021

The objective of this study is to see how a country's level of democracy impacts the relationship between financial development and income disparity. We argue that political regimes, supported by their degree of democracy, are important for various decentralization theories to predict the impact of financial development on income inequality. Our study tests this argument using Vietnam time series data for the period 2000-2020 through the ARDL model. The financial development variable is represented by five proxies, the income inequality variable is represented by the GINI coefficient and the role of democracy is represented by the Freedom House Index. Data serving for the study is taken from data sources with high reliability. The results of the study have strong evidence that (1) financial development has a positive impact on income inequality, (2) democratic government will reduce national income inequality. (3) And a higher degree of democracy tends to mitigate the positive impact of financial development on income inequality. Thus, our study contributes to the literature by providing a new look at the mixed results regarding the relationship between financial development and theoretical income inequality. Finally, the article provides policy implications for the Government of Vietnam.